Ascension
by Dragonridr21
Summary: To climb to the summit of Mt. Coronet, you have to start at the foothills. Follow the journey of the Platinum Hero as Dawn of Twinleaf Town sets out for the peak of the Pokémon battling world. Along the way she'll encounter amazing Pokémon, sinister plans and the mysteries hidden behind the legends of the Sinnoh region.
1. Starly and Starters

Chapter 1: Starly and Starters

It was a cold afternoon on a sunny April day and Dawn was waiting for her door to be broken down.

A harsh wind made the thick branches of the old oak outside Dawn's window sway violently, but the keening wind and the shaking leaves couldn't tear her eyes away from the note sitting on her desk. The crumpled paper and smudged handwriting told the story of many handlings while the ink staining Dawn's hands indicated how recent many of those marks were. The phantom sensation of sweat built in her palms as she continued to read the note over and over again, paper crinkling under her white-knuckled grip. The day was finally here.

_Dear Dawn Hikari,_

_Congratulations on passing the Pokemón Trainer Certification Exam! You are scheduled to receive your partner Pokémon from Professor Rowan on the __8__th__ of April__. Please be at the professor's lab in Sandgem Town by 10am on the date listed. If you are late, you may be unable to choose the partner Pokémon you would prefer or in rare cases unable to receive a partner until the next distribution date. We wish you luck as you take your first steps on your Pokémon journey!_

_Congratulations,_

_Trainer Certification Board, Lily of the Valley Pokémon League_

Years upon years of waiting led up to this day. Years of playing with her parents Pokémon, observing the Pokémon living in the forest outside town, religiously following League competitions from all over the world and cheering on the trainers at the Twinleaf Festival. Hours upon hours of musing over her team composition, daydreaming of her starter and the adventures they would undertake, it all led up to this day. It was finally her time to shine, time to make all those years of waiting and the past few months of studying and anticipation all worth it.

"Dawn are you here?!" But first, she had to make sure Barry didn't destroy anything. Dawn spun around in her desk chair to see her best friend attempt to smash the door into a thousand pieces as he threw it wide open. Huh, that was more restraint than she'd been expecting.

Barry's whole body vibrated with pent-up excitement as he ran over, hands waving wildly and mouth moving faster than an excited Crobat: "Dawn it's the day, come on come on, we gotta get going!"

"Won't that be hard without your bag?" Dawn pointed out, gesturing at the lack of a travel bag on his back.

"Oh jeez! I'll get it and meet you back at the entrance to Route 1! You'd better not be late or I'll fine you!" Barry declared, dashing off down the stairs even as he threatened her. Dawn stood to follow, shaking her head at Barry as she grabbed her bag where it was sitting on her bed. After fifteen years of being best friends with Barry, she knew the best way to get anything done with him around was to prepare early and remind him about what he'd forgotten. At least, if you could stuff a word in between his bouts of enthusiastic chatter.

Dawn took a moment to cast one last look around her room. Her eyes raked over the bookcases stuffed to the brim with Pokémon guides, mystery novels, mythology books and the histories of great trainers. Drawings of new Pokémon species and maps of different regions littered what little wall space remained. Glow in the dark stars traced out constellations dotted the ceiling above her bed. Everything was neat and tidy, down to the fully packed bag on her back. It would be a long while before she saw this room again, she couldn't leave it looking messy.

"You know, it'll be waiting for you when you get back." Johanna's voice was amused but carried an edge of sadness as she walked up the stairs to stand behind her daughter. "Barry came and went quickly. Forgot something I assume?"

"I'm just surprised that he didn't threaten to fine you too," Dawn said, turning to face her mother. Johanna looked quite a bit like her daughter, with long black hair, light skin and slender build. Her green eyes were a direct contrast to Dawn's blue, but the brighter than usual color told Dawn that her mother was trying to hold back tears. "And I know you'll be here. I promised to come back for the Twinleaf Festival, didn't I?"

"Don't you forget it." Johanna pulled her daughter in a quick, fierce hug and Dawn found herself having to hold back tears. No matter how much she'd been looking forward to this day, Dawn would miss her mother. She would miss the commentary on the Contest battles playing on TV, miss playing outside with Kanghaskhan and Gliscor, miss lazy days on the porch watching Pachirisu in the trees and even shoveling away the snow on the path together. When she let go she tried to ignore the tears her mother was surreptitiously trying to wipe away.

"You'll always have a room here, and you'd better come back often. This house is too big for me Kanghaskhan and Gliscor." Johanna said, walking with Dawn as they left the room and headed down the stairs to the front door. Before Dawn could open the door Johanna grabbed a small box sitting on the kitchen table and turned to face her daughter. "I have one last thing for my little Champion-in-the-making," she said, offering Dawn the box. Dawn took it gently, opening it to find a stylized watch patterned in pink and blue.

"A Pokétch! This is amazing, thank you mom!" Dawn threw herself into her mother's arms, hugging her tightly in gratitude.

"I was afraid you'd be back here in a few days if I didn't give you some way of reading your books on the road," Johanna teased, picking up the watch and fastening it on Dawn's wrist. "Also, it has a video camera feature built in, so there aren't any excuses for forgetting to call me!" Johanna told her daughter with mock sternness before straightening and gesturing to the door.

"Well you'd better get going. I expect you to call me the moment you get to the Pokémon Center in Sandgem! I want to see your first partner as much as you do!" Johanna ordered, the edge of sadness in her voice diminished but not entirely gone.

"I really doubt that mom, but I promise!" Dawn walked out the door into the bright sunshine, shivering as the cold wind brushed against her face. Thankfully, her new traveling clothes were made to keep out the elements. Sinnoh was not a warm region, as reflected in her long-sleeved pink coat, thick white scarf and handmade knitted beanie with the Pokéball symbol stitched on the front. Her heavy boots would carry her through the thick snow of Mt. Coronet just as easily as the quiet grasslands of Route 202.

Twinleaf Town spread out before her, little more than a large clearing with neat houses, shops and businesses partially hidden by spruce and oak trees. Snow dotted the worn dirt paths between houses, melting under the lukewarm sunlight as leaves and needles swayed in the wind. The cheerful chirps of Starly and Staravia and the high-pitched cries of Bidoof and Rattata echoed from the trees, occasionally interspersed with the voices of the other townspeople or the opening of a door.

Or in one case, the slamming of a door. Barry's blond hair stood out against the white and brown slush of the path as he rushed towards where Twinleaf Town ran out of houses and split to become Route 1 and the path to Lake Verity. He was almost at the entrance before the sound of his door slamming had faded.

"Mom, I've got to go! I love you, and I'll call tonight!" Dawn took off running, her heavy bag slamming into her back with each step as she tried to catch up to her best friend.

"Be careful, don't go into the tall grass! Love you!" Johanna's voice faded in the wind as Dawn ran off, ignoring her neighbors' waves as she ran, hands beginning to shake again and heart racing from the twin boosts of physical exertion and excitement. It was time to leave the town where she'd been born, she was off on her adventure! Sure, she'd been on Route 1 a hundred times but soon she would walk it with her powerful team at her side!

"Late, late, late! Come on Dawn, I'm gonna fine you!" Barry scolded as she skidded to a stop.

"I'll even it out when I win our first battle." Dawn only grinned wider when he stomped and shook his head, ignoring his protests as she looked out at the entrance to Route 1. What she saw made her smile drop as fast as a Charizard hit by a rock-type attack.

"Barry look!" Dawn's voice made Barry turn, his mouth continuing to voice protests until he saw the dirt path in front of them. Or, what had been the dirt path. While the long Sinnoh winters and remote location of Twinleaf Town meant that most of the roads around the village were battered and overgrown, the huge swathes of tall, waving grass were a new addition to the tree-lined route.

"A grass type must have evolved or something," Dawn speculated, eyes darting around the route in a vain attempt to see if there was a clear path around the grass. She had a knife in her backpack, one meant for cutting food and thin branches for kindling. Would that work to cut through the grass? No, that might disturb whatever grass type made its home in grass or other Pokémon hiding there, not to mention it would take too long. Take a side route through the trees? That would be risky, there were plenty of dangerous, territorial Pokémon that could attack if they strayed off the well-trodden paths and they didn't have any Pokémon to protect them yet. There wasn't even a guarantee that bushwhacking would save them any time, as they would have to pick their way through the undergrowth, and they didn't know how far down the route the grass extended…

"Come on Dawn, let's go!"

"Wait, what?!"

Barry was already running forward, grabbing Dawn's wrist in an attempt to drag her along as well. "What are you doing?!" she yelled, digging her feet in and yanking back on her arm to force Barry to let go.

"You read the letter! We won't be able to get our starters if we don't reach Sandgem Town soon, and I'm not letting some dumb grass get in my way!" He grabbed Dawn's wrist again and pulled but she stood firm, looking at him with no small amount of astonishment.

"Are you _insane?_ We don't have Pokémon and that grass can't be natural! We were here only a few days ago and the route was clear. Something has to be living in that grass or hunting there, and we can't fight it off if it gets aggressive!" She knew Barry had passed the certification exam and thus knew common safety precautions. Had excitement and nervousness had made him forget what little common sense he had?

"Come on, it can't be that big and if we don't risk it, we won't ever get our starters! You've been telling me for years how much you wanted that Piplup, are you going to give up now?!" Dawn bit her lip at that question, her mind and heart at war.

It had taken her so long to decide on Piplup as her starter. Each of the three starters traditionally given out by Professor Rowan had great strengths. Chimchar and their evolutionary line were fast and powerful, their impressive close combat abilities and ranged fire attacks making them offensive powerhouses with enough speed to make up for their frail bodies. Their cheerful nature and tendency to live in large communities meant they were easy to bond with and fire types were very rare in cold Sinnoh. Turtwig and their evolutionary line were the opposite, their naturally tough and heavy bodies allowing them to give and take powerful attacks with ease at the cost of their speed and ranged capabilities. Turtwig were normally quiet and trusting, always willing to help their trainer out and make friends quickly.

But her heart was set on Piplup and its evolutionary line after she saw a documentary showing them in their natural habitat, the icy landscape of the northern ocean, far beyond even the coldest reaches of Sinnoh. Their grace and smooth movements in the water, their regal demeanor and tough bodies that could take the punishment of such a harsh environment with ease, their powerful long-range abilities, there were so many options and abilities that Dawn knew she could use to great effect. Even the knowledge that Piplup were some of the hardest starters to bond with due to their independent streak and rampant pride couldn't dissuade her. Was the Piplup she always imagined at her side on this day really going to be taken away by something as simple as a patch of tall grass?

"Come on come on come on! I'll fine you ten million if we don't get going now! If we rush through, we can surprise the Pokémon and be gone before they even notice we were here. Let's go!" Before she could protest any more Barry was gone, diving into the grass that parted around him in a wave.

_That stupid, idiotic, moron! He's going to get eaten by an Ariados or melted by a Roselia's Acid! _But Dawn couldn't just leave him to his fate, no matter how moronic or annoying Barry could be. He would never let her put herself in danger without him by her side.

What kind of Pokémon Master would she be if she let her friends get hurt without her there to help?

Dawn dove into the grass, hands waving blindly as she tried to push the grass out of the way. Sight was useless, green stalks the only thing she could see as she stumbled forward. Only the whisper of moving grass, the thuds of rocks kicked aside and Barry's harsh breathing up ahead kept her moving forward without getting lost. Her heart beat in her ears, almost drowning out the sounds she was using to navigate. The still air was heavy with moisture, settling on her shoulders like an extra weight in her bag. More than once she stumbled on something unseen and almost fell, adrenaline the only thing keeping her on her feet.

Wait. Why was it so quiet? This grass was too tall and uniform to be natural, it had to be the nest of a Pokémon or at least created by one. They hadn't met any Pokémon even after endless minutes of tearing their way through the green barrier, so it seemed like no Pokémon lived in the grass. A defense maybe? Something to hide a grass type or multiple grass types from predators. If so, what predators?

Her internal question was answered by high pitched shrieks that froze her to the bone. She stopped stock-still, all too aware of what that sound was and more than aware of how much danger they were now in. Still, there was no choice but to keep moving. She couldn't stay in this grass forever.

When she stumbled out of the grass a minute later, she nearly crashed into Barry, sidestepping at the last minute only to be deafened by the twin sounds of Barry shouting "What's going on?" and the high-pitched shrieks of a frenzied Starly flock.

Starly were normally docile flying types, flocking like nearly all first-evolution flying types to make up for their lack of strength. Occasionally a Staravia would lead a flock of Starly, but in most cases they chose to find a flock of other Staravia instead of sticking with the weaker Starly. The much stronger and rarer Staraptor were solitary almost all their lives unless they chose to take a mate. The flock system meant that when a Starly flock came into contact with a Staravia flock, the Starly almost always went crazy trying to evolve in order to join the stronger flock, leading the Starly flock to attack everything in sight rather than sticking to their normal diet of weak bug-type Pokémon.

A group of five Starly dove at two figures ahead of them who were ducking and diving and running in an attempt to avoid the frenzied flying-types. The grass was flattened and cut in a huge circle around them, likely due to missed Quick Attacks and Wing Attacks. Behind the human figures the trees opened to reveal a huge lake, gentle waves lapping at the shore and mist lying like a heavy blanket over the area. It was impossible to see more than thirty feet in any direction due to the thick fog. They must have gotten turned around in the thick grass because Dawn could recognize Lake Verity anywhere.

Dawn was moving forward before her mind had processed all the information assaulting her senses. She ran forward, hazily noting Barry at her side as she bent down, hand scooping up cut grass to throw at a Starly about to hit one of the figures cowering beneath-was that a briefcase?

Her poorly thought-out attack did make the Starly stop pecking at the briefcase. Probably mostly from confusion. Thankfully instead of continuing its attack the Starly flew up to join its fellows in the branches of the trees around them, all five of the Starly evaluating the new arrivals and waiting for the right moment to strike.

"Professor Rowan? Lucas? What are you doing out here?!" Barry's shocked question made her look over to see that the two figures hiding behind the large briefcase were a familiar boy with black hair, sharp blue eyes and a matching blue jacket and an older man with the silvery gray hair, beard and wrinkles of the elderly and the strength of someone who refused to accept the passing of years softening his body.

"Barry? Dawn?! What are you two doing out here? We don't have Pokémon yet, walking through the tall grass is dangerous!" Lucas replied, sweeping his hair out of his eyes and adjusting his red hat to catch the strands.

"Lucas, you know these two?" Professor Rowan asked, fixing intense brown eyes on the pair of best friends. Dawn felt her spine straighten automatically under his stern gaze. This was the man who had discovered split evolutionary lines, who walked through thunderstorms and on the rims of volcanoes to discover the evolutionary methods of terrifyingly powerful species like Magmortar and Electivire, who figured out how to harness the power of nature to let humans evolve their Pokémon safely, who taught the world-renowned Professor Oak the science of Pokémon. This was the man who would give her the tools she needed to become a Master, _the_ Master, and the partner that would stand at her side.

If they survived the next couple minutes anyway. "They're my friends who live in Twinleaf Town, the ones who were scheduled to pick up their starters with me at the lab," Lucas said quickly, the rising shrieks of the Starly nearly drowning out his voice.

"Then they're reckless fools, walking through this mess without Pokémon. But since I'm sure I know the reason why and we're in a bit of a situation, I'll give them one last chance. You two" Rowan turned his attention to the two friends standing back to back in the tiny clearing. "You truly love Pokémon, do you?"

Dawn didn't even have to think about her answer. "With all my heart."

Barry's "Of course! What kind of question is that?" came out at the exact same time.

Even with the Starly preparing to launch another assault Professor Rowan smiled. Not a fake kind or a simple movement of muscles. The true kind of smile that makes all hearts around it lift, even if just a little.

"Very well then. I will entrust the three of you with Pokémon a little early so that we can escape our current predicament. I ask only that you never endanger yourselves like this again." He lifted the battered briefcase and unlatched the locks, setting it down on the grass. Inside sat a mess of scattered papers full of notes, a pair of binoculars, a pen, a few discarded Rage Candy Bar wrappers and three pristine Pokéballs. "The right is Turtwig, the middle Piplup and the left Chimchar. I suggest you hurry. Your sudden arrival and their curiosity about my briefcase will not deter Starly in evolution frenzy for long."

Dawn and her friends had no need for words or meaningful glances. The three of them had talked about this moment so much over the past few years that they needed no more communication. Lucas grabbed the ball on the right, Barry the ball on the left, and Dawn took the ball from the middle. Lifting it up, the Pokéball felt lighter than expected. Some part of her mind insisted that it should be heavy, probably due to the weight of her expectations and excitement to meet the being inside.

The sound of a Pokéball release was familiar to Dawn from her mother's Pokéballs and the many times she'd heard it on TV, but her heart couldn't help beating faster as the Pokéball split and released a stream of red light that coalesced into a small blue figure. Blue eyes the color of the deepest depths of the ocean opened and looked around before rising to meet Dawn's own.

"Hello Piplup," Dawn began as she knelt down, unable to keep the tremble of mixed excitement and nerves from her voice. Piplup were prideful, she would have to make her request carefully. First impressions were important after all. "It's nice to meet you. My name is Dawn. I'm sorry that I have to ask this of you as we first meet, but I need your help. We're being attacked by a Starly flock and we can't fight them off. I know that a powerful Pokémon like you can win though. Will you lend me your strength?"

The little blue penguin looked around to where the Starly had begun to squawk, unhappy with the new Pokémon and ready to resume the battle now that they were used to the new people and strange slab opening. Piplup looked back up at Dawn, puffed up its chest and trilled, a bubbly sound of assent.

"Thank you! Now, let's show these Starly who the strongest Pokémon here is!" Dawn yelled, pumping one fist into the air. Great, Barry was really rubbing off on her. Piplup copied her though, raising on flipper into the air and trilling again before turning to face the Starly closest to them. In her peripheral vision Dawn saw Lucas and Turtwig standing side by side on her right and Barry with Chimchar on his shoulder on her left, Professor Rowan scooping up his briefcase and standing in the middle of their impromptu defensive formation, his back to the lake. It was time for their first battle.

_Okay, I don't have a Pokedex yet so I don't know Piplup's moves, but I do know what simple moves the Piplup line can learn. Let's try…_

The Starly closest to Dawn and Piplup swooped down from its branch, shrieking and diving at Piplup with glowing wings. "Piplup, dodge to the right and Pound!" Dawn yelled. Piplup clumsily shuffled to the right and raised one wing glowing with white light as Starly streaked by, bringing the glowing appendage down on Starly's unprotected back for a vicious blow. _Piplup's going to need speed and coordination training first, it has trouble moving on land right now. On the plus side, the power in that Pound was pretty impressive for such a young Pokémon. I wonder…_

With one Starly down, unconscious in a small pile of dirt kicked up from the forced crash-landing, another dove in to take its place. This Starly was smarter than the last, using Quick Attack to move in faster and avoid Piplup's Pound, landing a solid hit on the penguin's downy blue feathers before flitting back up into the sky. Dawn's heart jumped into her throat as the Starly came too close for comfort, the breeze it kicked up hitting her sweat-streaked face.

"Come on Piplup, let's pay it back for that! Wait for it to dive in again," Dawn instructed, never taking her eyes off the speckled flying type above them while she tried to calm down. Once again it flew down with Quick Attack, this time from a different angle, aiming for Piplup's back. Huh, that was some solid tactical thinking for a wild Pokémon. If only she had her Trainer's License… "Now Piplup, hit the dirt!"

Piplup dove to the ground, narrowly avoiding the streak of white light that was Starly. "Hit it with Bubble!" Still lying prone, Piplup spat a stream of glowing blue bubbles from its beak. They caught Starly in the back as it finished Quick Attack and began climbing, the little bird slowed by its attempts to gain altitude. Starly shrieked and fell out of the sky, knocked back into the treeline and out of sight.

The shrieks of Starly faded into the distance as the few remaining members of the flock fled the clearing, many of them bearing burned or cut feathers. Dawn looked around to see her friends and their Pokémon none the worse for wear before the result finally registered: she had just won her first Pokémon battle!

"Piplup, you were amazing!" Dawn wanted nothing more than to sweep the little penguin up into her arms and hug it, but she knew that Piplup probably wouldn't take kindly to that yet. She hadn't even asked if Piplup would join her on her journey yet. However, the sparkling blue eyes that stared up at her and the chest puffed up in pride did give her an inkling on what the answer would be when she did ask. Piplup squawked loudly, waving both flippers at the direction of the forest where the Starly had flown off. "Thank you so much for your help Piplup," Dawn thanked her new ally before turning to her friends.

"Aww yeah, that was awesome!" Barry cheered, his new Chimchar chittering on his shoulder, both of their arms raised in triumph. "Chimchar was so awesome, you guys won't stand a chance when we battle!"

"Turtwig did a great job as well, especially with a type disadvantage," Lucas said, smiling at his new partner and bending down to rub the little green head. Turtwig's eyes closed in pleasure from the gentle touch.

"Piplup's going to be an amazing battler, I can see it already," Dawn added, smiling at her new friend.

"Thank you all for getting us out of that little scrape," Professor Rowan said, drawing all of their attention. "It turns out my research trip was more exciting than expected. I always carry a Pokémon from the ranch or the latest batch of starters with me when out researching but giving my next batch to their owners ahead of time isn't a situation I've run into before. It goes to show that no matter how old you are, life can still surprise you."

"Thank you, Professor," Dawn said formally, the manners beaten into her by her mother finally surfacing now that they were out of immediate danger.

"You're welcome. Now, if you would all please recall the Pokémon, we'll adjourn to my office so we can finish the process for real." Professor Rowan turned and began walking down the path, not giving them a choice about their next action. Lucas recalled Turtwig with a flash of red light, bent down to pick up a few notes that were scattered around the lake edge and hurried after his mentor, clutching the Pokéball like a precious stone. Barry didn't even bother with the recalling until he was almost in front of Professor Rowan, remembering at the last moment to recall Chimchar before the poor fire-type fell of his shoulder.

Dawn turned to Piplup. "I'm going to recall you now, but I'll release you as soon as I can, and we can get to know each other a little better. Does that sound good?" Piplup eyed her for only a second before nodding. A press of a button and Piplup was red light sucked into the Pokéball. Dawn took a moment to look at the clearing at the lake edge. She watched bits of feather float down to the forest floor, the torn-up and flattened grass rustling in the wind, the rippling waves of the lake gently rising and falling on the sandy lake shore. It wasn't the first battle or meeting with her starter that Dawn had imagined for years, but she couldn't have asked for a better beginning to her story. Dawn raced away after her friends, leaving the mist-covered lake behind her without so much as a final glance.

The lake watched her go.

A shimmer like a heat haze appeared from a ripple at the center of the still lake, watching the small figure walk away. For a moment, a figure in pink and gray with a shining red jewel was visible. A second later the figure was gone, vanished as though it was never there at all.

#

Professor Rowan's lab was large, white, and filled to the brim with books, strange machinery and paper. Dawn loved it. The high ceilings meant that she didn't feel crowded by the endless shelves and huge metal contraptions that covered every inch of available wall space. Despite the notes strewn over tables and helpers in lab coats moving around the room the lab was clean and orderly. No books littered the floor, the shelves were neatly ordered, and the machines were freshly cleaned. There were no wall dividers inside the building, which helped encourage the perception of spaciousness. She could see a refrigerator, sink, oven and tables with chairs near the back of the room right next to the machines, indicating that this was a place where work and daily life were interchangeable.

Professor Rowan led the three children over to a large cabinet at the back of the room, setting his briefcase on a nearby table before unlocking the cabinet and rooting around inside for a moment. He withdrew three familiar devices from the depths and turned around, extending the devices to the three waiting trainers. "Here are your Pokédexes, they already have your Trainer Card and information loaded on them. They also have my number and information, so don't hesitate to call when you need help or need to transfer a Pokémon to my ranch. I may be Lucas' mentor but I'm responsible of all three of you kids."

Barry didn't even wait for the professor to finish speaking before snatching his red Pokédex out of the professor's outstretched hand, opening it up and scrolling through menus eagerly. As usual Lucas and Dawn had more manners, taking their green and blue Pokédexes and opening them up only after the professor was finished speaking. Dawn's Trainer Card was right there on the loading screen, displaying her name, age, Trainer ID number and photo. The part where her Pokémon on hand would normally be displayed was blank though.

"Normally this is the part where I offer you all the Pokéballs for the starters and you all would choose, but we skipped ahead during our outing earlier. I recommend you take this moment to formally ask the Pokémon to join you on your journeys." Professor Rowan gave them a hard stare, indicating that this was not a request.

Dawn's hand shook a little as Piplup's Pokéball opened and the little water type appeared in front of her once again. Now that the elation and adrenaline had worn off somewhat, she was extremely nervous that Piplup wouldn't agree to be her partner. What if she had done something wrong or offended Piplup somehow during the battle? It was likely a silly fear, she knew that, but she couldn't help but worry.

Piplup's cheerful trill made her a little more hopeful as the water type emerged from the red light of release and looked up. "Hi Piplup! We're back in Professor Rowan's lab now. Since we did such a great job together earlier today against the Starly, I had a question for you: would you like to join me on my journey to becoming a Pokémon Master and become my first Pokémon friend? I promise that we'll have a ton of adventures and become the strongest of them all!" Dawn held her breath.

Only a second passed before Piplup gave a decisive nod and made a noise that sounded something like a mix between a bark and a squeak, approval radiating through the odd sound. "Great! I promise you won't regret this decision Piplup. We'll make sure everyone knows us as the strongest of them all!" Piplup trilled and raised a flipper high into the air and Dawn bent down to give it a high five, laughing the whole way down.

Straightening, she took out her Pokédex and opened it, finding the scan app. "Can I scan you please? It won't hurt and it'll tell me a little bit more about you." Piplup nodded and Dawn activated the scanner.

_Piplup, the Penguin Pokémon. It lives along shores in northern regions, where its thick down guards it from cold. A skilled swimmer, it can dive over ten minutes to hunt. It is a poor walker and often falls down, but its strong pride makes it puff up its chest without a care. Because it is very proud, it hates accepting food from people. It's difficult to bond with since it won't listen to its Trainer. This Piplup is a male with the ability Torrent. It has learned the moves Pound, Growl and Bubble. It has the ability to learn the egg move Aqua Ring. _

"Would you like a nickname Piplup?" Dawn asked once she was sure of Piplup's gender. Piplup nodded, an eager light in his eyes. That eager light didn't die even as Dawn went through name after prepared name, waiting for one that fit just right. She'd come up with quite the list of names in preparation for this day but Piplup turned out to be quite picky. Piplup seemed to like the more uncommon or regal names, allowing Dawn to narrow down the list until a squeak stopped her.

"Crest? Do you want to take the name Crest?" Dawn asked just to be sure. Another squeak, louder this time, answered her. "Great! It's great to have you on board Crest!" Dawn finally turned back to Professor Rowan who was watching the exchange with a faint smile. "Can you register Crest's Pokéball to me Professor?"

"Already done. You're free to head out at any time. Just one last piece of advice: A journey is a grand undertaking, a great part of your life. Like all of life, you'll find that what you get out of it is directly related to how much effort and dedication you put into it. If you keep on believing in yourself and Piplup and take the time to nurture your gifts, I'm sure that you will go far." Professor Rowan graced the pair with a genuine smile before nodding and turning to face Lucas, engaging him in a longer conversation.

"Dawn! Come on come on come on!" Barry was already impatient, and this time Dawn honestly had no idea why.

"Barry, what's the rush this time?" Dawn sighed wearily. By the Legends, Dawn always felt that dealing with Barry could take more energy than racing a Jolteon.

"Come on, we have Pokémon now so what's the first thing we're gonna do as trainers? Battle! I'll wait outside and if you're late I'll fine you ten million!" Barry dashed out the door with his Chimchar once again riding on his shoulder.

"I'll come referee, I want to see this. Plus, I can take on the winner," Lucas said as he walked up to her side.

"You think very highly of yourself, don't you? Fine, I'll smash you to the ground after I'm done with Barry," Dawn teased, punching her friend lightly on the shoulder as they emerged into the bright morning sunlight. Sandgem Town was only marginally larger than Twinleaf Town, but the Professor's lab meant that there was a big enough scientific community there to merit more shops and conveniences instead of the monotonous houses of Twinleaf Town. Plus, the salty sea air and close proximity to the beach attracted some tourists in the summer months, short as they were. At least the snow had fully melted here.

"I have type advantage, of course I'm confident," Lucas pointed out. "Plus, Atlas here wiped the floor with those Starly and he's got a type disadvantage, so I'm sure we could pull it off again against Piplup."

"Crest and I will prove you wrong," Dawn vowed. The next thing she knew she was being dragged across the field in front of the lab by Barry's enthusiastic hand.

"Come on!" He thrust her into position on one side of the field and ran over to the other side, leaving a sizable space between them. Lucas walked to the middle and raised a hand, Chimchar jumped down from Barry's shoulder to land on their makeshift battlefield, Crest waddled over to stand in front of Dawn, and the battle was on.

"The battle between Barry Jun of Twinleaf Town and Dawn Hikari of Twinleaf Town, _start!_"

Barry started off just the way Dawn expected him to. "Torch, get in close and use Ember!" Torch was apparently of similar mind to his trainer as the Chimchar was already moving by the time the last word was out of Barry's mouth. The fire type raced across the battlefield, arriving right in front of Crest with a mouthful of sparks in mere moments.

He wasn't fast enough to stop Dawn from giving her own commands. "Crest, lean then Pound!" Crest understood her implication, leaning to the right just in time to avoid a volley of Embers right where his head would have been, lashing out with a glowing wing as he did so. Torch was sent stumbling back, hands clutching at his stomach. Dawn grinned as her strategy paid off.

Chimchar might be prized for their agility and attack power, but their bodies couldn't take hits well. Barry had tried to use Crest's slowness to his advantage just like she used Torch's, but even in the small amount of time since she had met Crest, she had shown him how to dodge without needing to move his feet. A solid stance did wonders to add force to a blow. Barry really should know better than to underestimate her, she'd had literal years to plan exactly how this battle would play out.

"Bubble!" Dawn cried, unwilling to give up the momentum. Barry might be rash and impulsive, but he wasn't stupid, she couldn't rely on type advantage alone to win this fight.

"Come on Torch, use your speed! You can run rings around Piplup, don't let it hit you and hit it back!" Barry urged as Torch managed to roll over just in time to dodge the Bubble. Still clutching his bruised stomach, Torch began to run around Crest, always moving to be just out sight even as Crest tried to turn around and catch him. More than a few sparks of Ember left burned patches of feathers behind as Torch got in lucky shots.

Dawn frowned. Torch was faster than she had expected, and Crest was obviously unused to keeping up with speedy enemies. Time for a change of plan.

"Strafe Bubble around the field," Dawn ordered before lowering her voice and continuing, "…but let Torch in close." She had an idea but only time would tell if it could work.

The next minute of so of battle went exactly as the last two had: Torch ran around the battlefield, keeping out of Crest's line of sight and peppering him with Embers while Crest slowly turned on unsteady feet, trying his best to keep up with the Chimchar while blowing Bubbles everywhere. The Bubbles managed to block a few of the Embers but didn't so much as touch Torch once, the move and its creator too slow to match Torch's speed.

"That's it, keep it up! Show them that type advantage doesn't mean anything to us!" Barry cheered, watching his partner with rapt attention while his fist hit the air at regular intervals. "Now finish it off!" Torch dashed into an opening between the lingering Bubbles, hand glowing with a Scratch attack.

"Bubble in front of you!" To anyone but Dawn this command made no sense. Crest was currently facing Barry, not Torch coming in from his right side. In a moment Torch was leaping, hand only inches from Crest when Dawn cried, "Spin and Pound!"

Crest showed off the speed he'd been hiding, spinning around with both wings glowing with Pound and catching Torch's Scratch before it landed. Crest kept spinning, using his momentum to throw Torch bodily across the battlefield. Right into the mass of Bubbles he had created only a few feet away.

Torch shrieked and screamed as the Bubbles popped in unison, inflicting massive damage and soaking the small fire type. The damage was too much for the untrained chimp and he fell limply to the ground, clearly unconscious from the blow. Lucas' hand swept down as he announced the result: "Chimchar is unable to battle, Piplup is the winner!"

"Yes, we won! You were amazing Crest!" Dawn laughed and crouched down, raising one hand for a high five. She wanted to hug the little penguin but she didn't think he'd be comfortable with that. Yet. It couldn't take too long, they'd just won their first trainer battle after all!

"What? We lost?! Aww man. You did great Torch, you almost beat a water type with no training! Don't worry, we'll train until we can beat them no sweat! This is the last time we'll ever lose!" Barry encouraged, helping the little fire type sit up. Torch looked a little ruffled and very tired, but when he looked over at Crest the fire of competition was burning in his eyes.

"Nice battle you two! So, Dawn, ready to put your skills to the test for real?" Lucas asked, throwing Turtwig's Pokéball up and down with a confident smile on his face. The grass type by his side looked over at Crest, eyes slightly narrowed and twig twitching.

"Sorry, but I think I'm gonna have to delay your challenge for now," Dawn told him, looking down at the burns on Crest's wings and noting how he was still breathing heavily. "Barry and I need to go see Nurse Joy and have her look at our new partners."

"Of course," Lucas said, placing the Pokéball back on his belt. "I'm going to Jubilife with the Professor in two days to meet up with another scientist. We can have our battle then. After that though I'll probably have to stay here with the Professor for a while. I can train Atlas here while I do field work and help out around the lab. Maybe we'll see each other on the road when I start doing work further away from the lab and can grab a few gym badges in my downtime."

"We'll have our battle in Jubilife then," Dawn promised, recalling Crest to his Pokéball then looking back at Lucas. She hesitated for a moment, then rushed in and hugged him. Lucas seized up under her touch, as though unsure of what to do. "I'll miss you. Don't do anything too stupid while we're gone, okay?"

"What, are you kidding? You two are the ones always getting into trouble," Lucas answered, slowly hugging her back then letting go quickly. "You'd better build a great team, otherwise Atlas and I will flatten you when we see you again."

"All right! To the Pokémon Center! I'm out of here, see you guys later! You better get stronger so I can flatten you, or I'll fine you ten million!" Barry gave the duo a passing glance backwards as he rushed off towards the red-roofed Pokémon Center in the distance.

"I'd better go too. See you!" Dawn stepped back and walked away, hand raised in a farewell wave. Lucas and Atlas watched her go then walked back inside the lab, Lucas already talking to his partner about some scientific theory he was researching. One day she bet that the lab would be his. She could only hope she was the Champion by the time he rose to take the lab for his own.

Nurse Joy at the Pokémon Center looked just like she did everywhere: pink hair, white doctor's uniform, kind smile. The workers at the Pokémon Center all dressed the same way as part of their brand, dying their hair and wearing the same style in order to show Trainers that their Pokémon were in safe, trusted hands no matter what Pokémon Center they went to. Nurse Joy took Crest to heal for about an hour, time which Dawn spent in the lobby of the expansive hospital/hostel, looking at the Pokédex.

The battles with Starly and Chimchar had given her a good idea of what Crest was currently good at and what he needed to improve. Digging out a notebook from her stuffed backpack, she opened the crisp notebook to a blank page and wrote at the top, _Strategies and Training Plans, Vol. 1._ Minutes later she had filled up three pages with scribbled notes on specific exercises, diet plans, move training plans and everything she could think of about how to train Crest, with some input from the Pokédex files on Piplup.

In what felt like no time at all Nurse Joy was on the intercom calling her name and she was picking up Crest's Pokéball. It gave her a thrill to attach the ball to the section on her belt made for Pokéballs, as if reminding herself that this was real.

"Take care for a little while, those burns weren't bad but his wings might be a little sore for the rest of the day," Nurse Joy advised, giving her a bright smile. "Have fun on your journey!"

"I will!' Dawn replied, heading out the door. Barry was still in the waiting room, as Torch had more extensive injuries than Crest. She would see him later, in Jubilife. For now, all she wanted to do was get on the road.

One press of a button later and Crest stood at her side as she faced the entrance to Route 202. "Hi Crest. I'm just about to set out for Jubilife City, would you like to walk with me?" Crest nodded agreeably and they set out, the patter of small feet trying their best to keep up with Dawn's long stride.

Dawn struck up a meandering conversation, trying to get them comfortable with one another. She told Crest about her mother and living in Twinleaf Town, all her misadventures with Barry and Lucas when they were little and loved to sneak out to explore the woods. How Lucas and his family had moved to Sandgem Town a few years ago, and how she and Barry had walked up the path to see him every week. About the years of discussing their dreams and working together to make sure that they all passed the trainer licensing exam with great scores.

Then she began talking about her goals. "I want to be a Pokémon Master, _the_ Master, the strongest trainer in the world" Dawn said, eyes on where the tops of the trees met the sky. "I want to become strong so that no one has to suffer, so that I can protect everyone and show the world what I can do. I know that's what Dad would want."

Crest looked up at his new partner at those last words. What had the girl meant? She hadn't mentioned a father up until now. Dawn didn't elaborate, eyes fixed on the skyline, right hand clutching something at her neckline. Crest internally shrugged, returning his focus to the road. If she didn't want to tell him now, that was fine. What did he care what humans got up to? If this girl could make him stronger, then he would stick with her until he found something better and that was all that mattered.

"Of course, in order to do that we need to get more teammates," Dawn continued. "I used to think about being a single-type master, but honestly I love all types of Pokémon far too much to do that. I'm aiming to have one Pokémon of every type of my team, so that we have all the variety we'll need for any type of situation. Single-type masters might not have to learn as much about so many different Pokémon and types as I will, but I think it will pay off in the end. We'll always have what we need for anything and anyone we face, so that we always come out on top!" Crest looked up and chirped at that last statement, the promise of future strength catching his attention a bit more.

"I'm hoping to catch another member of the team between now and when we get to Jubilife," Dawn began before she was cut off by a familiar sound. A high-pitched shriek and the flapping of small wings.

A small figure dove from the sky and alighted on a low-hanging branch just ahead of the duo on the trail. Dawn couldn't believe it. "You again?!"

**#**

…**Well what have I gotten myself into now…**

**Hello! Hope you enjoyed this first chapter, it's a wild ride from here on out. There is a distinct lack of stories about/set in Sinnoh, my first and all-time favorite region, and a lack of Pokémon stories of this type with a female protagonist. I decided it was up to me to write the story I wanted to see, so here we are. This is my first attempt at a long-term fanfiction project, but I intend to see it through to the end! I'd like to stick to a once-a-month update schedule, but real life may interfere, or I may be struck with an abundance of free time and update more often.**

**This Sinnoh is a mix of the anime and games, meant to explore the possibilities of Pokémon that are only lightly touched on by the franchise. Two quick notes: the starting age for trainers in this fic is fifteen and this Dawn is not the Dawn we know and love from the anime but rather the player character from Diamond/Pearl/Platinum. **

**Huge thanks to the many amazing writers on this site who showed me what is possible and kept me up late at night reading their stories. If you get a chance check out Traveler by The Straight Elf, Challenger by darkfire1220, Uprising by A Wordsmith, The Road to Champion by The Universal Gamer and The Mortal Earth by Mateusz. These works inspired me to write my own Pokémon fanfic and are well worth a read.**

**See you next time!**


	2. Many Meetings

Chapter 2: Many Meetings

The Starly glared at Dawn and Crest with all the dignified pride of Entei atop a volcano. Its sodden and ruffled feathers indicated that it had been in battle recently. Dawn didn't have to guess where.

"You're the second Starly that attacked us earlier, at the Lake," Dawn accused. At her side Crest puffed up his chest and shrieked in tandem with Starly as the two Pokémon stared each other down. "Come back for a rematch?"

Starly gave its answer in the form of a quick dive from the tree branch where it had landed only moments ago, wings glowing as it threw itself at Crest. Just watching the move gave Dawn a sense of deja-vu from their morning battle.

"Crest, same plan as Torch!" Crest heard Dawn's yell just in time to lean out of the way of the Wing Attack.

As Crest began to blow Bubbles all over the battlefield in an attempt to both catch Starly and reel it in closer, Dawn swung her bag over her chest so she could root around inside. She had wanted to catch this Starly during their battle earlier. Now that she had her license with her, she could follow up on that resolution.

A red-and-white Pokéball was primed and waiting in her hand when Starly was finally lured in for a close-range attack. Landing on the ground for a split second to dodge the Bubble barrage, Starly leapt at Crest with both wings gleaming white in a powerful Quick Attack. Crest lunged forward in the same moment, stubby wings glowing with the power of Pound. Driving both wings into Starly, he expected the little bird to be thrown into the mass of Bubbles behind it just like Torch had been earlier.

Instead, his glowing wings found no resistance as the body of the Starly burst and disappeared when touched, his wings passing through nothing at all.

"Crest, that's Double Team, keep it away or you'll be swarmed!" Dawn yelled, too late as Crest was bombarded from all sides by illusory Starly. Only one was real and Crest could feel the harsh impact on his right side as he was sent sprawling, but when he looked up, he couldn't deduce which of the ten Starly swooping above was the real one.

"Bubble net! Make it hit something before it hits you!" Dawn ordered. Crest tried his best to comply, foregoing standing in favor of spewing Bubbles all around his prone form. The Starly swarm descended again, ignoring the floating hazards in favor of all-out attack. In the confusion of copies disappearing all around him, Crest was once again hit and unable to tell which of the three remaining Starly was the culprit.

However, unlike Starly, Crest had an ally looking out for him. "Hit the one on the right!" Dawn said, pointing on the correct Starly. She could see what Crest had been too busy to see. Crest immediately spat out a stream of Bubbles faster than ever before, the pain in his sides and decreasing energy giving him an intense desire to finish this battle quickly.

Starly shrieked with rage as the Bubbles impacted, knocked back a few feet as the copies dissipated. It beat its wings with as much power as it could muster, clearly trying to gain altitude and escape Crest's limited range.

"Oh no you don't!" Dawn yelled as she threw the primed Pokéball with all her might at the rising Starly. She hit Starly right in the back, where Crest's attack in their last battle had tossed it into the woods. Her days of throwing stones to practice alongside Barry and Lucas had finally paid off. The ball opened and sucked the Starly inside in a stream of red light, falling to the forest floor with a dull thud.

For ten tense seconds Dawn and Crest stood stock-still, watching the ball roll from side to side and shake at odd intervals as the Starly tried to break free. After ten seconds the ball stilled and a faint _click_ sounded, indicating a successful capture.

"Yes! We did it! Our first new teammate!" Dawn knelt down and swept Crest up in a hug, too overjoyed to worry about his fragile pride or their budding friendship.

Crest didn't mind, too proud of himself over beating the flying-type twice to bother with his human's strange behavior. This whole team thing was working out better than he had expected actually, without his human he wouldn't have defeated Starly nearly as fast. Of course, he would have beaten it, but not as fast. There was something to be said for that. Maybe he would stick around longer than he had originally thought.

After a moment Dawn let Crest down from her arms and walked forward to pick up the Pokéball. Only a few seconds with her first caught Pokémon and she was already strategizing on how best to train her new partner. _Not bad tactical sense and it clearly likes to battle. Hates to lose, as seen by the fact it came back to challenge us not long after the first defeat… I'll need to train it not to gain altitude the moment it gets hit, that's far too predictable and gives an opponent an opening…_ She knew that the moment she sat down she would have to start a new section in her journal, just based on this one battle.

That reminded her, more information would certainly help her analysis. Dawn removed her Pokédex from an outer pocket on her bag and scanned the Pokéball.

_Starly, the Starling Pokémon. Starly travel in great numbers, so a single individual is hard to pick out of a crowd. Though small, they flap their wings with great power. They flock around mountains and fields, chasing after bug Pokémon. Their singing is noisy and annoying. This Starly is male, with the ability Reckless. It knows the moves Tackle, Quick Attack, Wing Attack and Double Team. It has ability to learn the egg move Feather Dance. _

_Reckless? Isn't that a rare ability? Although that might explain why Starly thought rushing in only hours after getting his tail kicked was a good idea…_ Dawn made a note to look it up later before sliding the Pokedex into her pocket, docking the new Pokéball on her belt and turning to Crest. "Well, shall we get going? I'd like to make it a few more miles before nightfall…"

Without so much as a squeak Crest began trundling down the path, Dawn falling into step behind him. He might have decided that his human would be a good enough companion for now, but that didn't mean Crest would leave all the decisions up to her.

#

Route 202 was not particularly well-traveled, so Dawn and Crest did not meet anyone as they walked, instead enjoying one another's company and the view of the wide flower fields they wandered through. By the time the sun hit the tops of the distant trees Dawn and Crest had found a campsite, little more than a fire pit and some neatly piled cut branches a little way off the road. Dawn would have preferred somewhere more sheltered from the elements and passerby, but the sky was clear, and no one was likely to disturb them tonight. Once they were further from Sandgem Town she would have to think about setting watches. When they hit a real wilderness area like Mt. Coronet or the Eterna Forest, sentries would become an absolute necessity.

In a few minutes Dawn had a cheerful fire going, her dinner warming up beside it, her tent set up and her notebook open. She didn't want to train Crest too hard tonight, eyeing the bruises that marked his body from the battle with Starly, but it would be a good idea to get started on some basic exercises. Starly would remain in his Pokéball so they could meet their new teammate when all were rested.

"Hey Crest, ready for some training?" Crest looked up from where he had plopped down a little distance from the fire with interest. Struggling to his feet he waddled over and chirped enthusiastically. She had a feeling that enthusiasm wouldn't last much longer with what she would have him doing.

"Great, we'll start off with some movement and endurance training then move on to ability training." Picking up one of the precut pieces of firewood, Dawn walked a decent distance from the campsite, set it down, then returned, placing another piece of firewood right in front of Crest. "You're going to run as fast as you can from this piece of firewood to the other piece and back until you're too tired to go on. When you are, stop and squawk at me. I'll give you a break then you'll get right back to it."

Crest nodded and set himself up at the closer end, then began waddle-sprinting for the other piece of firewood. More than once he almost tripped and fell beak-first on the ground, his wings flapping furiously as though attempting to hold him up. He wasn't fast by any definition of the word, but Crest made it back and forth between the branches at a decent clip for around five minutes before he stumbled to a stop at the closer branch, making a sound that was closer to a whine than a squawk.

"Three-minute rest," Dawn told him cheerfully. The water type collapsed to the grass, breathing so hard Dawn could hear it from her spot on the other side of the fire. When Crest had imagined training, he had imagined great battles and himself destroying his opponents, working hard to perfect powerful combos that left his opponents speechless and stunned as they lay defeated. He hadn't imagined running back and forth so much that he felt like his lungs would collapse and his feet would fall off.

Far too soon Dawn yelled, "Time's up!" and Crest was back to running. The repeated the exercise four more times, shortening the amount of time Crest had to run slightly after the first time. Dawn noted with satisfaction that the little penguin was already stumbling less even after two rounds, and more of the stumbles were from tiredness then true clumsiness on land. If he improved at this rate for another two days or so she would add in obstacles for him to jump over or avoid. If Starly joined them they could even add evasion training into the routine.

Once Crest couldn't run another lap without passing out Dawn switched tactics and had him practice his accuracy. By having him spit Bubbles so that they would linger at a specific place between the two branches Dawn taught Crest how to control where his Bubbles would go. Once Crest had better aim, she could work with more complex strategies than trying to entrap an enemy or knock them into where the Bubbles were. She also had him work on how many Bubbles he could produce, how fast he could produce them and how powerful they were individually. At some point he needed to learn Bubblebeam. If they did the groundwork now it would be much easier to learn later on.

Both Crest and Dawn were dead on their feet by the time the sun had gone down. Dawn's dinner was pleasantly warm from sitting by the fire and Crest dug into his Pokémon food with gusto after Dawn doused it with some water (he refused to eat it dry). As soon as their food was finished Dawn put out the fire and curled up inside her tent, Crest claiming a corner of the tent for his own. He had refused the offer to sleep with her but didn't want to sleep in his Pokéball or outside, so Dawn offered him a blanket. Crest had taken the opportunity to make a little nest out of the blanket. Dawn's last sight before sleep claimed her was Crest snuggling into his blanket nest, eyes already closing.

#

Dawn threw the Pokéball high, releasing Starly straight into the air. Crest had to crane his head far back to catch sight of the normal type soaring high for a moment before coming down to land in front of Dawn and Crest. He didn't look too angry; there were no shrieks or attacks prepped. Starly simply stared at the two who had vanquished him.

"Hello Starly," Dawn began, "I'm Dawn, and this is Crest. I caught you last night. You know what that means. Are you willing to join the team?"

Starly looked over the pair for a moment. They had beaten him twice, even when he revealed his secret weapon. He had attacked them in the first place in order to grow stronger. They were stronger than him. Wasn't that all there was to it? He wanted to get stronger, the human could make him stronger like the Piplup by her side. Plus, harsh battles and free food. What more could a Pokémon ask for? Starly nodded his agreement.

"Great! I promise that I'll make you strong, as strong and you can possibly be and much stronger than you ever imagined you could get. Would you like to take a nickname?" Starly thought for a second than chirped cheerfully. A new name, one that would mark the stronger version of himself. Yes, he liked that.

Dawn began to run through names, though it didn't take long for Starly to pick one. He didn't seem very picky, but Dawn liked the one he chose all the same. "Welcome to the team Zephyr! We're about to set out, but I bet you'd like some food first…"

After a quick breakfast, the trio set out together, Crest walking at Dawn's side and Zephyr flying above them on the chilly morning breeze. Only five minutes down the path, Dawn's Pokétch began to buzz with an incoming call. She looked down to see her mother's phone number and missed a step on the path, stumbling for a moment before she caught herself. She'd forgotten to call her mother in the excitement of yesterday. _Oh no…_

Dawn pressed the button with no small amount of trepidation and prepared to shock a lot of Pokémon awake as they walked on toward Jubilife City.

#

"Whirlwind!" A blast of air smacked the poor Bidoof ten feet away, sending it rolling into the grass with a pitiful cry. Dawn sighed but smiled at Zephyr as he came back down to land on her shoulder. "Good try Zephyr. Keep at it, I'm sure you'll get it soon."

With two full days of walking and training behind him, Zephyr had a rudimentary idea of Whirlwind down. He could produce a mighty gust of air from his small wings, enough to cause any small enemy to go flying, but he hadn't managed to make it spin the way a proper Whirlwind should and he couldn't conjure up nearly enough power to make it effective against anything but the lightest enemies. Zephyr had proven that time and time again as he tried out the new move on anything that moved.

Over the past two days Dawn had gotten to know both of her teammates much better, in part because there was nothing better for team bonding than complaining about waking up to a torrential rainstorm on their third day out of Sandgem Town. Plodding through the rain and mud together brought out the best and worst in her teammates.

She now knew that Crest would always remain cool and calm, undeterred by any obstacle no matter how small. Even flopping over in the mud and remaining stuck for five minutes hadn't caused him to lose his aloof demeanor. But when he was uncomfortable or dirty his pride acted up; it had taken five minutes to get free of the mud because he refused to let Dawn or Zephyr help him in any way.

Zephyr in many ways was the exact opposite of Crest. He was always loud and cheerful no matter what, even when stuck riding on Dawn's shoulder for hours due to the downpour. He stuck close to Dawn, showing her and Crest affection by snuggling close in the rain or sitting on her lap during their nights by the fire after training was done. He'd gotten over his capture quickly, acting as if Crest and Dawn were friends he'd known all his life.

His cheerful personality made Dawn's spirits rise during the long third-day slog, but the other side of his personality caused no end of trouble. Zephyr had an insatiable lust for battle. Zephyr tried to attack every wild Pokémon they met or rare Trainer they encountered the moment he saw them. As far as Dawn could tell, Zephyr wasn't being territorial, prideful or hated other Pokémon; he just loved the thrill of battle. He shrieked his heart out through every skirmish no matter how small or quick, finding new and creative ways to use his small movepool to extend the battles. Every night after Dawn had pounded both he and Crest to the ground through endurance, power and move training he tried to hassle Crest into battling him. Crest never obliged but it didn't stop Zephyr from pecking, screeching and nudging Crest in an attempt to make him break. Dawn supposed it was lucky she wasn't a Pokémon or she wouldn't get any rest either.

At first Dawn thought he was just hyperactive. In order to get him to calm down and use that energy more productively, she began teaching him Whirlwind and instructed the normal type to practice while they walked. Zephyr just took the command as free reign to pick even more fights, as long as he used his new move.

After researching the ability Reckless Dawn saw she had to come up with a new strategy. Apparently, the ability Reckless wasn't rare for the Starly line but was rare above the Starly level for one reason: Starly with this ability often killed themselves picking fights they couldn't win or using recoil moves too often so that the enhanced damage they took from those moves killed them. A Starly with this ability couldn't be convinced not to battle; they could only be taught to take better care of themselves and to choose their opponents wisely.

Dawn had to move on to a new tactic: he could fight others only if the target agreed to battle. She convinced him it would help him improve faster to have willing opponents. Zephyr had a much more open idea of what "agreeing" to battle was than Dawn did (for example, walking across the road in front of the party counted) but for now she took it as the best she was going to get. At least it would help him master Whirlwind faster.

Only a couple hours past lunch on their fourth day of walking Dawn began to see the tall skyscrapers of Jubilife City in the distance. She unconsciously picked up the pace, so much so that Crest had to nearly jog to keep up with her. Zephyr picked up on the energy as well, flying high above the trees ahead to explore these new buildings from the air.

The transition from path to city was gradual. After an hour of walking the dirt path became a pitted and cracked but paved road. Houses began to appear along the edges, starting with worn, smaller houses that slowly became bigger and more modern as they walked. The buildings became taller and more closely packed, the road in better condition, and people began to appear. People walked on the streets and Pokémon walked by at their sides until the streets were so congested it was hard to walk sometimes and the skyscrapers loomed overhead. They had reached Jubilife City.

Dawn had never spent more than a day in the city, but it was familiar from a few trips in her childhood. The congested streets, tightly packed buildings and bright lights assaulting her senses reminded her why she had hated those trips. Bright neon signs lit up the streets, proclaiming their businesses and shops set into the towering skyscrapers penning the citizens in on all sides as citizens and tourists mixed on the streets, shouting in many different languages. Far ahead she could see the famous globe on top of the Global Trade Station. Next to it the sharp spire of the Jubilife TV Tower lit up the sky with blinking lights that warned planes away. The quiet noise of Pokémon in the fields and trees were left behind long ago, ceding to the combined roar of street vendors hawking their wares, construction machines building new skyscrapers and citizens chattering as they muscled their way through the throng crowding every street.

Jubilife City was the biggest city in all of Sinnoh, its proximity to the southern coast allowing the weather to stay warmer longer than most of Sinnoh and its centralized location drawing in many businesses. What had once been a collection of houses much like Twinleaf Town had grown into the home of Sinnoh innovation and modernization in the modern era. To Dawn, who had grown up in the forest with only familiar faces around, trying to muscle her way through the streets was close to a nightmare. Crest and Zephyr were already in their Pokéballs, unwilling to face the crowds Dawn was shouldering through.

Dawn's frantic search for the bright red roof of the Pokémon Center came to an end half an hour later, when the glaring lights of the city gave way to the comforting white double doors and standout red roof. Dawn tumbled in through the doors and dove to the side to avoid the crush of traffic coming in and out. The Jubilife Pokémon Center was enormous, nearly tall enough to be considered a skyscraper and twice as long as most of the buildings surrounding it. It made sense that the Pokémon Center for such as city had to be large to accommodate all the extra traffic.

Dawn collapsed on a chair and waited for the tension to drain from her muscles, trying to ignore the chatter of trainers waiting in line and the reporter on the giant TV droning on about some missing scientists. She was so focused on the task of calming herself down she didn't even notice the figure next to her until he grabbed the end of her sleeve and pulled. Dawn nearly jumped five feet in the air, recovering only when her brain processed just who was standing in front of her.

"Not even going to stop to say hello?" Lucas asked with a mock wounded expression on his face.

"It's not like you stand out much in this crowd," Dawn told him as she pulled him into a brief hug. She hadn't expected to see him in Jubilife, for all that he'd said he was coming out this way. She wasn't intending to linger for more than a single night and she'd left before him. Dawn could only guess that Professor Rowan was here as well and had teleported or flown them to the city.

"It's too crowded for a proper reunion in here. Want to go out back? We can finally have that battle we promised each other," Dawn offered.

"Lead the way," he said, joining her in forcing the crowd aside as they walked across the expansive lobby towards the double doors that would lead them to the small battlefield in the back courtyard of the Pokémon Center.

Walking outside Dawn saw the sun again, hitting the tops of the buildings as it slowly sank towards the horizon. It lit up the Pokétch Company headquarters with a golden glow, casting the derelict building behind it into shadow.

Jubilife City had once had a Pokémon Gym like most of the other cities in the region; a clan of Normal-Type Masters had founded the gym in the heart of the city, all but ruling their own little fief until others discovered how wealthy relocating to a position between three major cities could be. Her mother had told her the story last time she came to the city: how the gym leaders fought the growing interests of businesses who wanted to control the flow of money in the city and how they had failed and been forced to give up their ancestral land and control as more and more people flooded into the valley. Now only the shell of their mansion remained, a ruined sentinel of older days watching over the city it once ruled. Dawn thought it was an inauspicious place to battle, under the ruined remains of the heart of Pokémon battling in Jubilife.

It didn't appear to bother Lucas, as the second they stepped out onto the manicured grass and saw the hard dirt carefully painted with white lines in front of them he turned to her with a small smirk. "Ready to battle?"

"I'm almost offended you had to ask." Dawn grinned wildly and took up her position on one side of the battlefield, waving away the trainers hanging around while Lucas took up the spot on the other end. The other trainers settled in to watch on the outskirts, with one trainer striding forward to referee the match. He turned to Dawn and Lucas to check if they were ready, and receiving a set of nods said the traditional words:

"Battle, _start!_"

"Atlas, let's go! Absorb!" Lucas called as threw his Pokéball. Atlas began to glow green the moment he appeared, a pair of thin vines emerging from under his brown shell to stretch towards Crest.

"Crest, come on out! Pound them away and approach!" Dawn yelled. She'd been planning for this battle ever since she first got Crest but type disadvantage meant she couldn't take too many risks. Everything would come down to precision.

Crest's wings glowed a familiar white and he Pounded the vines away as he began to run forward. In mere moments he was right in front of Atlas, slamming a Pound down on his brown shell. Atlas groaned and backed up, sending his vines in again to keep Crest busy while he recovered. Atlas wasn't fast or particularly powerful at this stage but he could take a hit well.

Lucas looked somewhat astonished at how fast Crest could move on land now, watching the water type knock back Atlas' vines with ease. Competition and a battle-hungry partner had done wonders for Crest's need to improve and opportunities to do so.

"Atlas, Bite and Absorb! Take a hit if you have to!" Lucas' command got Atlas moving again, making Dawn internally curse. Lucas was a much harder opponent than Barry. Not because of type advantage (at least solely) but because he used his head much more than Barry. Lucas had probably thought about how to win this battle as much as she had.

Well, it was time to see if she knew Lucas as well as she thought she did. "Crest, charge! Hit Atlas with Bubble then Pound at close range!" Lucas frowned at the command and Dawn could see his thoughts in his expression. Her tactic was stupid, without a chance of success; Atlas had already shown off the ability to nearly shrug off Pound at close range, so a hit from Bubble at long range would do absolutely nothing, especially with a type disadvantage. Sending Crest in close when Atlas' best moves were close range and without the element of surprise like last time was almost suicidal. All the Bubbles were doing was tearing up and soaking the ground they hit, creating muddy puddles all over the battlefield.

"Atlas, Withdraw!" Dawn's smile broke out unintentionally as her guess proved correct. Lucas was being cautious, trying to get her to unveil the secret behind her tactic and get away with minimal damage to Atlas. Despite her mother's wishes, Dawn had never been good at staying cautious.

"Crest, do it! Peck!" Atlas hadn't had time to kill enough of his momentum to complete Withdraw, pulling to a stop just in time for Crest to burst into range. Crest's beak was glowing a faint blue with flying-type power that would hurt Atlas enough for Crest could defeat him with a few more blows. The flying-type move wasn't near complete yet, but it worked well enough to hurt Atlas more than a simple Pound or Bubble. Her crazy plan had worked!

It all went wrong in a fraction of a second. Crest hesitated just inches from Atlas, bleeding momentum as he dug in his feet to stop himself from digging his beak into his opponent. Atlas snapped all his limbs into his shell, glowing a brief blue as his shell hardened. The remaining momentum sent the shell crashing into Crest, knocking the two of them towards Dawn's feet. A moment later Atlas' head popped out and his teeth dug into Crest's downy blue feathers, their bodies glowing a fierce green as the grass type sucked the energy out of his foe. Crest shrieked and thrashed but after a few moments of Absorb Crest slumped to the ground in an unconscious heap.

Atlas let go and stepped back as the referee lifted a hand to announce the winner of the battle. Dawn didn't hear his words as she collapsed to the grass and pulled Crest in close, cradling his limp body. "You did great Crest, don't worry," she whispered as she heard Lucas walk over. "We'll beat them next time." She recalled Crest in a flash of red light and looked up to see Lucas' hand extended.

"I'll just have to crush you next time," she told Lucas in a falsely cheery voice as she grabbed his hand and he pulled her to her feet.

"I won't make it easy," he promised. He looked at her with a flicker of concern in his eyes for a moment before shaking his head and gesturing towards the Pokémon Center behind them. "Let's go get these two healed," he offered.

Nurse Joy promised Crest would be good to go soon so Dawn took a seat to wait in the expansive lobby, claiming one large couch in the corner of the room for herself. She couldn't quite convince herself that there was no reason it was as far from Lucas as possible. She sat down and scrolled through her Pokédex, pencil and notebook in her lap but hands and mind curiously unwilling to write. Normally she spent a long time editing her training plans after a battle, reporting on what she thought Crest and Zephyr had done well, what they had not and what strategies their opponent used. Right now, it was all she could do to keep her eyes on her Pokédex as she scrolled. Her mind kept flying back to the moment of hesitation, Atlas' teeth around Crest's body and his pained cries, the limp body cradled in her arms.

She was so focused on trying to avoid the intrusive memories that she didn't notice the figure who had come up behind her until he moved to block the light. Dawn looked up to see a man with spiky blue hair and a stern face looking down at her. His features were curiously blank of any emotion.

"Hello? Can I help you?"

"Your Pokémon. You lost that battle because it hesitated."

"Excuse me?"

The man sat down on the other end of the couch Dawn sat on, intense gray eyes still trained on her face. "Your Pokémon hesitated at the crucial moment and couldn't regain momentum fast enough. That decision cost you the battle. Do you know why it stopped?"

Dawn thought back to that moment. Instead of mourning the loss, this time she tried to think about _why_ Crest had hesitated. Atlas hadn't been able to fight back at that moment so it couldn't have been that Crest was scared of attack or pain. Maybe he was scared his Peck wouldn't work? No, he'd started the move and it had been strong enough to at least deal a little damage, she could remember the glowing blue beak. Then what was it? Did he not trust that her plan would work? Maybe, but it wasn't likely. He'd trusted her judgement in battle when they'd known each other for only a few seconds during their first-ever battle…

Looking down at her own feet in their heavy boots was what made it click. Her boots had mud crusted around the edges. The battlefield had been wet and muddy from Crest's Bubble. Crest was afraid of falling in the mud at his feet and had hesitated! He was prideful, she had known that from the moment they met, but until now she hadn't though about how that might affect him in battle. He spent hours grooming himself every morning, plucking at his feathers until they were in the perfect position and so clean they gleamed in the sun. Of course he wouldn't want to get muddy!

Dawn realized the stranger was still waiting for an answer. "I do. We'll do better next time."

"Your Pokémon lost the battle because it hesitated. It lost the battle not because of you but because it didn't follow your commands. It lost because it listened to its own desires over your own."

"I guess, though I think it was more because I didn't understand him well enough to command him well. We'll become better partners in the future so that it won't happen again." Dawn really didn't know where the man wanted this conversation to go. Something about him put her on edge; maybe it was the way his eyes never left her or his white-knuckled grip on the couch, like this conversation meant more to him than he was letting on. Whatever it was, all she wanted was for him to make his point and go away. She had training to do.

"You should not need to. If your partner had listened to you and not its own emotions, you would have won. Would it not be a better world, a more complete world, if there were no emotion, no spirit to fight against? If you could trust that when you gave an order, your Pokémon would do it every time without fail?"

What? This conversation was only getting stranger. More and more she wanted to get out of here, to stop talking. "Of course not. We lost today because I didn't know my partner well enough to help him overcome his opponent. Learning from our mistakes and growing together is what makes us stronger. If Crest listened to every command perfectly, he wouldn't be a Pokémon, a companion, partner and friend. He'd be a robot."

The man didn't appear to be listening that closely. His eyes were still fixed on her face but had a faraway look, clearly paying attention to his own thoughts instead of her answer. "Without emotion, without spirit, there would be no mistakes, no strife. All would be perfect, as it was when space and time began. Spirit brings nothing but pain, loss and grief, as when one chooses to follow their feelings, they cause nothing but sorrow to all around them…" The man refocused on Dawn again, holding her gaze for an endless moment.

"You have helped me confirm on my course of action. Thank you." He stood up, digging something out of a pocket and handing it to her. "My name is Cyrus. Remember it." Without another word, he turned and walked away.

The business card was a simple rectangle of white paper. The words "Cyrus, Galactic Research Company, CEO," was printed on the card over an image of a blue planet with a yellow ring. It nearly fell out of Dawn's limp hand as she collapsed back on the soft couch cushions, unease draining out of her body. The tension in the air had dissipated now that Cyrus was gone and she felt so much more tired than she had before.

At least the stranger had been good for something. Dawn sat up and opened _Strategies and Training Plans, Vol 1 _to her section on Crest. She began to write new notes, emphasizing how to work around or help him overcome his vanity so that they wouldn't lose this way again. She had lost this battle, to a rival no less. She didn't plan on losing any others because she didn't understand her partners or refused to learn from a battle. Next time they battled, Lucas wouldn't know what hit him.

#

The soft sounds of the forest on Route 203 were a welcome relief from the loud, crowded streets of Jubilife. The sun shining through the trees cast dappled light on the path as Dawn stepped off the paved street and headed for the wilderness. Her bag was heavy with all the supplies that she had bought in preparation for her journey through Route 203 and especially the Oreburgh Gate. Flashlights, batteries, rope, Pokémon Repel, everything she could possibly need for the days she would spend wandering in the dark. It was times like these that she almost regretted not choosing Chimchar as her starter; a constant source of light and warmth would be invaluable in the caves that led to the mining city.

But she could never give up Crest, who had already proven to be Torch's match and more. He was walking at her side as usual, eyes fixed on the road and quiet except for the occasional chirp or squeak to alert Dawn to something on the path. Zephyr was zipping around the trailhead, hopping from branch to branch to Dawn's shoulder before zooming off to enjoy the thermals created by the warming air above. The thick cloth of her jacket's left shoulder was already beginning to show signs of wear and tear from his constant takeoffs and landings.

The sound of something thudding to the ground and the shriek of a Starly up ahead made Dawn pick up the pace for a second, Crest moving in perfect sync with her. After the last few days with Zephyr they both knew the signs of the flying-type getting into a fight and she wanted to head him off before he exhausted himself not five minutes down the trail. She was quite happy that he hadn't yet learned any moves that caused recoil damage, or his Reckless ability would probably have already knocked him out many times over. It showed up enough in his personality already.

She got a surprise when she rounded the corner. Rounding the bend, she saw not one Starly on the ground but two, each attempting to rise from the dusty path and glaring at one another, trading high-pitched shrieks. However, the true surprise was who was standing behind the second Starly. Barry stood only a few feet down the path, bent over to help his Starly to its feet while Torch looked on from his place next to Barry.

"Barry! Zephyr!" Dawn hurried over and carefully picked up her own Starly before turning to grin at her rival. "New catch?"

"Huh? Hey Dawn! You were being so slow I thought I'd have to wait until Oreburgh City to battle again so I was heading out! Tell me you got a little tougher!"

"Of course! You?"

"Me? Do you even need to ask? Of course I got tougher! Come on, let's battle it out!"

Dawn grinned in anticipation and sped up her pace as Barry led her a few meters off the side of the trail. Crest looked up at his trainer hopefully and Torch danced around Barry's feet in excitement.

"One on one?" Dawn asked. "I'd like to test out my new partner but not have to go right back to Jubilife and wait three hours to get going."

"Sure! We can test which Starly really rules the roost! Come on Zip, let's get going!" His Starly shook itself then slowly flapped into the air, circling above its master's head in a long, lazy spiral. Zephyr in contrast zipped up to hover above Dawn and shrieked a challenge, his eyes fixed on his opponent.

They waited for a tense second, then the battle began. "Zephyr, Wing Attack," Dawn ordered. Zephyr shot forward with a heavy downward thrust of his wings, shooting for one of Zip's wings. Zip dodged out of the way by a hair and went to gain altitude. Zephyr shot after Zip and soon the two flying-types were exchanging blows in a dancing aerial duel that was almost impossible for Dawn or Barry to follow. Dawn could see that she was just going to have to trust Zephyr to know what he was doing in the air since she couldn't be up there with him. What she could do was point out any openings she saw.

Zip was not nearly as aggressive as Zephyr, preferring to avoid blows by small margins and strike in the gaps Zephyr's overzealousness left behind. Zephyr's complete lack of restraint and ability to ignore injury if it meant he could attack his opponent back meant by the time five minutes had elapsed both Starly were covered in small wounds. Zip was losing altitude with every wing flap and Zephyr was panting so loud that Dawn could hear it even twenty feet below them. This last strike would be the decider and Dawn had every intention of helping her friend win.

"Zephyr, Whirlwind!" Zephyr's wings glowed white and he sent a current of air at his struggling opponent. Zip cried out as the current made her loose balance in the air and she began to fall. Zephyr dove after his opponent, coming in close with glowing wings to finish his opponent in the air instead of letting gravity do his work for him.

"Zip, Fury Attack!" Barry was grinning widely, sure that this time he'd gotten the drop on Dawn.

Zephyr wouldn't pull up and let Zip get away. It wasn't who he was. Dawn knew this, so she had to adapt her strategy. What could she do? He couldn't attack without being taken down… wait that was it!

"Zephyr, grab the attack and throw!" Zephyr's talons locked around Zip's own outstretched talons. With a mighty flap and heave Zephyr changed the course of Zip's fall, sending her down at a harsh angle with more than a little bit of extra momentum added in.

Both Starly hit the ground, sending up puffs of leaves and dust. Only Zephyr could drag himself back to his feet and raise his wings in triumph.

"What? I lost?! What do you mean I lost?! Again!" Barry recalled Zip, his expression somewhere between distraught and disbelief. After a second it morphed into determination. "Well that's it! That's the last time I'll ever lose, especially to you Dawn! I'll be the world's strongest trainer and you know it! First thing to do is take on the Oreburgh City Gym Leader. You'd better be tougher the next time we meet, or I'll have to beat you and fine you! Later!" Moments later Barry was off down the road, mouth moving a mile a minute as he chattered to Torch about his plans until he was out of sight.

Zephyr chirped a challenge before flying up to land on Dawn's shoulder once again. His grip was less painful than normal, and she could tell he was tuckered out when he decided to stay and regale Crest with the story of his victory instead of flying off to find a new battle as they set off down the road. For her part she just listened to the cheerful chirping and stroked the Starly in congratulations as they walked down the forested path towards their next victory.

Crest rolled his eyes at the silly flying-type. Zephyr was loud and annoying and didn't know when to shut up, but that _had_ been an impressive victory. Was it because of their trainer or because he was just naturally good? Crest still wasn't sure. They'd lost his last battle, but they had won every other battle. Perhaps was time to leave the human behind. If he wasn't winning battles this partnership wouldn't be worth it, lowering himself to working with a human. But it hadn't been that long yet and while the workouts weren't fun, he could tell they were working.

Crest decided that the next few hard battles he had would decide it. If the human could help him, truly be an asset in a battle where he had the disadvantage and wouldn't win without her and her training, then he would stick by her for as long as it took to become strong. If not, if he could win without her or lost because she was there, then he would be gone. Still, Crest felt a twinge of something he couldn't identify at the thought. Eyeing the normal type asleep on the human's shoulder and the human in her white hat, blue eyes watching him with fondness, he tried to convince himself that it wasn't regret, that he wouldn't miss them.

He wasn't particularly successful.

#

If the wide-open flower fields and sparse forested patches of Route 202 had been a change of pace, a real sign that she was at last on her journey, then Route 203 was like walking home. The tree-lined path, thick canopy overhead and the crunch of leaves under her feet were as familiar to Dawn as her own name. If she didn't pay attention to the Starly flying ahead or the Piplup at her side, she could convince herself she was walking home to Twinleaf Town after going to see Lucas in Sandgem.

Unlike Route 201 and Route 202 there were a significant number of trainers walking between the Oreburgh Gate and Jubilife City. Almost all the trainers were happy to battle her. Dawn defeated them all reasonably easily; she found that most trainers on this route were also fairly new and most didn't use any strategy when they fought. Dawn had quite a bit of fun picking them apart and she could see Crest slowly adapting to her favorite strategies. After the first few battles on the road, she could give much vaguer directions and see the exact result she wanted. Every time she saw another Bidoof or Starly unconscious before her partner she knew that they were becoming a better team and she couldn't ask for more. Their first gym battle was fast approaching, a true test of their skills. She knew that her first partner was more than ready for the challenge.

Zephyr didn't take to her strategic bent with as much enthusiasm as Crest but he was slowly learning new tactics and the importance of not rushing in. He still took far too many hits but Dawn had plenty of time to help him improve. With his type disadvantage he wouldn't be a star player in her first gym match though he would inevitably fight. Without the ability to teach him super-effective moves at this stage, all she could hope for was that he could take down an opponent before falling himself.

In the last three days rocks had begun to appear more frequently and the trail began to get steeper. She was approaching the foothills of the Coronet Range and her legs complained ceaselessly about the extra work. Crest was surly the first night after they began climbing, his short legs meaning he felt the increasing slope even more than she did. The only sign that Zephyr noticed their ascent into the foothills was the increasing amount of time he spent flying high above them, playing in the cool mountain winds.

Watching him gambol about in the air had helped Dawn come up with a new training exercise they could do on the road. Whenever Zephyr dove down low enough, Dawn would throw acorns or small stones at him while Crest blew Bubbles at him. He wasn't great at dodging at first but by the end of the second day he was using his size to his advantage and learning how to avoid the projectiles. On the third day Dawn set an additional challenge: Zephyr had to dodge the thrown objects then catch them before they hit the ground. Crest's Bubble was getting stronger and more accurate as competition stoked his need to be the best and he strived to reach and hit Zephyr. Zephyr in turn loved to dodge and pop the slow Bubbles. All in all, their training sessions during the long walks helped both improve and let Dawn spend more time on move training when they had their nightly training sessions.

Her teammates were progressing and she could see them getting stronger by the day. Crest's stubby wings had begun to grow longer and the feathers on his wings darken into a more royal blue color. She thought it would still be a little while until he evolved but she had high hopes that it would happen before she reached Eterna City. Zephyr was growing steadily larger; the extra nutrients in his Pokémon food and constant work had helped him become nearly twice the size of the average Starly already. As he grew ever closer to evolution she knew to watch out for the increased aggression that came about as he stored energy and began to produce the hormones necessary for evolution.

On the fifth day of their journey down Route 203 Dawn was interrupted from a memory of Flint and Cynthia's most recent battle by Crest trilling and pulling on her pants leg with his stubby beak.

"What is it Crest? Trouble?" Crest nodded, his wings held out from his sides a little as though preparing to use Pound. A moment later Zephyr came rocketing down the trail from where he'd been exploring up ahead, shrieking a warning cry. Instead of landing on her shoulder Zephyr grabbed a backpack strap in his beak and pulled, joining Crest in tugging Dawn behind a rock outcropping a little way off the path.

"What's going on you two?" Neither Crest nor Zephyr answered, just pulling her down until the rock hid them all from anyone on the trail and waiting in silence. Deciding to trust the superior senses of her partners Dawn waited patiently for whatever threat they had noticed to reveal itself.

After a minute or two of silence the small trees and bushes along the side of the road began to move and shake, slowly parting to reveal a large black head. It turned and Dawn caught a glimpse of a Luxio for the first time. The serious face was somewhat at odds with its large round ears, but she didn't doubt that if they moved too much it would hear them or smell them. That would be a big problem, especially as Dawn saw the forms of other Luxio and some smaller Shinx appear from the undergrowth beside the leader. They looked up and down the path before continuing on their way, aware that this path was often walked by humans.

Around twenty-five electric types crossed over the road to continue into the woods, all eyes and ears alert and wary for any interference. The road crackled with the excess electricity flowing between the pack. All electric types could communicate using electricity but the favored form of communication between the Shinx line was to release electricity from their claws and into the ground where another could receive the incoming charge.

Dawn gave Crest and Zephyr a congratulatory stroke as she watched the pack move past. Packs of Shinx and Luxio were fiercely loyal and territorial, to say nothing of the fact that humans or Pokémon who walked too close to a pack would find themselves fried by the excess electricity produced by their communication.

The procession of Luxio leading their cadre of Shinx kittens went on for about ten minutes before they had passed fully out of sight. Dawn waited another ten behind the rock to make sure it was safe before she led Crest and Zephyr back onto the road. Just as she stepped out from behind a rock, a pitiful mewl made her turn towards the road again.

A lone Shinx stumbled out onto the road, looking around in every direction. Electricity crackled along its blue body, making it glow even in the bright sunlight. Its head turned this way and that, nose sniffing the air nonstop while electricity crackled into the ground. The glowing body couldn't hide the dirt and dust streaked all over its pelt as it stumbled slowly across the path, ignoring the human and Pokémon in its way.

An electric type would be a great addition to her team and she had always admired the Shinx line. They were powerful hunters that excelled at close combat and their electricity gave them multiple ways to incapacitate and overcome opponents. Just aside from the tactical advantages catching it would bring the team, she wanted to help little electric type looked lost and alone. Perhaps it had gotten lost from the pack up ahead? No, it wasn't to far behind to catch up, even exhausted as this one appeared to be. If it hadn't caught up by now it was by choice. Perhaps it had been thrown out for some reason? She didn't know, but she did have a solution that would hopefully benefit them both.

"Crest, we're going to catch this one. Hit the ground in front of it with a Bubble, I don't want to attack while its back is turned."

Crest looked up at his trainer then did as he was told. Inside he was burning with excitement. Finally, here was a chance to prove he was better than type advantage. This would help him decide which path he would take, to go on his own to grow stronger or stay with the human.

His Bubbles flew straight and true, cutting off Shinx just as it was about to enter the forest. Instead of hopping back in surprise like most Pokémon would Shinx froze, slowly turning its head to face its opponent and his trainer. It took a moment to study them closely, the worried look had worn previously melting into something colder and harder. Dawn recognized the look in its eyes. It was analyzing them with the cool calm of a warrior. That was the expression Dawn had seen on the TV on Champion Cynthia's face many times, the eyes that she desired to bear one day when she faced her foes. She was more determined than ever to see this Shinx join the team.

Shinx turned its body to face them, dropping into a crouched position that would help it take off running at the slightest provocation. Crest moved to face it and for a moment silence reigned as they watched one another.

Shinx's body lit up bright as the sun, stunning Crest for a second just as the electric-type sprang. Dawn blinked away the spots in her vision in time to see Crest bowled over by Shinx. The Tackle didn't appear to carry any electrical energy at least, or at least not yet. Shinx attempted to bite down but Crest used his free wing to deliver a Pound that forced Shinx to get off of him.

Shinx prowled just out of reach as Crest got to his feet, bright eyes never leaving the water-type. Electricity began to crackle along its claws, then all over its body and Dawn had to bite back a curse. "Don't let it get close Crest! It's using Charge, if it touches you, you'll be shocked." Crest nodded and puffed up, spitting a stream of Bubbles towards Shinx.

It proved a good move as it forced Shinx to avoid them or lose the charge building in its coat. Shinx dodged the move and raced in, leaping for his opponent. Crest stumbled backwards, not expecting the burst of speed Shinx displayed that allowed it to close in for close combat. Pound was out of the question because he would hit the charging electricity and Bubble would be just as dangerous to Crest as Shinx if he tried it now. What should he do? What _could_ he do?

"Peck!"

Crest didn't think; he just _did_, generating the spiraling air current around his stubby beak that elongated it, thrusting forward into Shinx's side. Shinx hadn't expected the move and was thrown to the side, allowing Crest time to realize what had happened.

Although Peck appeared to use the user's beak to attack the foe, it actually worked by summoning flying type energy to wrap the user's beak in a thick spiraling wind current. This wind current was what actually hit an opponent, not the beak itself. Air was a poor conductor of electricity, allowing Crest to hit Shinx's Charged coat without shocking himself.

Crest didn't waste the opportunity, spitting a large Bubble at Shinx and drenching it as multiple bubbles exploded against its side and cancelled out the Charge. Shinx was still scrambling to stand when Dawn threw the Pokéball.

It wobbled frantically for five seconds before slowly losing speed until it stilled, a faint _click_ sounding their victory and the advent of a new partner.

Dawn's exuberant laughter rang through the trees as she ran towards Crest and the Pokéball at his side. She knelt down and grabbed the Pokéball off the ground before turning to give Crest a quick hug. He didn't push her off of himself like he normally would if she tried to touch him, so she considered it progress.

Deciding against going on for the rest of the day, Dawn walked back towards the rocks where they had taken shelter earlier. She found an area that was big enough for training and a small camp only a few paces away. Setting down her bag, she pulled out her Potions and a few Oran berries before turning to Crest and Zephyr.

"Be alert but not hostile, we want to make a good impression. Shinx is likely scared and alone, we want to show it that it can be a part of our family now," she instructed. Crest and Zephyr nodded then watched Dawn hit the button and Shinx appeared in front of the team.

Shinx was shaking and barely able to stand when it appeared, cringing and backpedaling when Dawn knelt down to its eye level. Only the offered Oran berry got Shinx to come close enough to touch. Shinx sniffed the berry and began to eat, allowing Dawn to spray potions on its wounds while Shinx tore at the berry. Once Dawn's Potion was all used up and the Oran berry eaten, Shinx looked up at Dawn, wariness and curiosity battling in its eyes.

"I caught you Shinx. That means that you now have a new home, with us. Are you willing to join us? We can give you a family, teach you to be stronger and better than ever before. We'll support you in bad times and celebrate together during good ones. We'll become the strongest, together. Are you in? Will you join us?"

Shinx looked around at Crest, standing silently at Dawn's side, and at Zephyr perched on her shoulder. When Shinx still looked unsure Zephyr gave an encouraging chirp and Crest squeaked and trilled a quick few words.

Shinx looked up at her as Crest ended his speech, fixing bright yellow eyes on Dawn's blue ones. He gave an affirmative mewl and stretched his body into a long bow in what Dawn knew to be a sign of submission between members of the Shinx line.

"Thank you, I promise I won't let you down! But there's no need to bow, we're all equals on this team. I'm your trainer but I'm not your superior in any way," Dawn assured the electric type. Shinx cocked his head to the side, as though it couldn't understand the concept. Shinx packs ran off a strict and rigidly enforced hierarchy from what Dawn remembered from her studies.

Well, she had an easy way to find out more. "Do you mind if I scan you Shinx? It won't take long, and it won't hurt. It'll just tell me a little bit more about you," Dawn reassured her new friend. Shinx shrugged and sat down, watching her pull out her Pokédex and activate the scanner.

_Shinx, the Flash Pokémon. The muscles in its forelegs generate electricity when they flex. Its fur glows brightly when it senses danger. It flees while its foe is blinded. This Shinx is male with the Ability Intimidate. It knows the moves Tackle, Leer, Charge and Baby-Doll Eyes. It has the ability to learn the egg move Ice Fang. _

With that moveset Dawn guessed that Shinx wasn't too much older than Crest, a few months old at most. Her best guess was that the male Shinx had been thrown out of his pack by an older male Luxio who wanted the females all to himself. "You're pretty strong Shinx!" Dawn praised, causing Shinx to preen a little at the compliment. "Would you like a nickname?" Hopefully a nickname would help him forget the trouble of his old pack and help him integrate with his new one.

Shinx nodded, beginning the litany of names. Shinx didn't seem too picky about his name but Dawn put lots of thought into the ones she suggested, trying to find one that fit the quiet kit before her instead of just throwing out options. It took four tries before they found one that fit.

"Welcome to the team Ion!"

**#**

**All the responses to the first chapter made me catch the writing bug so here's the next chapter! I hope that you enjoy it. The team is starting to fill out a little more and we've almost reached the first Gym Battle. The next chapter probably won't be out quite so quickly, but I'll keep working as fast as I can! **

**Thanks, and see you next time!**


	3. To Smash a Rock

Chapter 3: To Smash a Rock

Bright light stung Dawn's eyes as she stepped out of the cave, her hand automatically rising to shield her eyes from the sunlight. After a few minutes peeking through the gaps in her fingers Dawn allowed her hand to drop, looking at the city sprawling throughout the valley beneath her feet.

Oreburgh City was bigger than she'd expected, brick, stone and steel buildings stretching out as far as the eye could see. The industrial bent of the city was clear; construction equipment and huge factories were visible all over the city. Dawn could even see the giant conveyor belts, thick steel beams and dark hole where the famous Oreburgh Mine sat at the other end of the city. The air was surprisingly clean; in her daydreams before she started her journey, she always imagined huge clouds of black smoke trailing from the factories and clogging the air. Well, if that was true the flying-types would have attacked the city in rage and the League would have come down on the city for violating environmental law, so she supposed it couldn't fit all the stereotypes.

Crest still had his eyes hidden behind his wings, standing a little behind Dawn in order to block the rays of the sun. After walking through the lamplit caves of the Oreburgh Gate for two days the sun was blinding to his sensitive eyes, through when she glanced back at him, he turned up his beak and looked away, dropping his wings as if ashamed to show weakness.

They had arrived at the Oreburgh Gate after six full days of walking from Jubilife, with another two days spent walking along the lamplit path inside the Gate itself. Ion had proved especially helpful in the caves, his ability to use a weak, natural version of the Flash technique for short amounts of time allowing them to navigate the darker parts of the path and find good places to sleep. It also came in handy whenever they had to scare off a curious resident of the caves; most of the Pokémon in there were not used to the bright light Ion could produce. Their training had continued whenever they decided to stop but since the cave was narrow they had little room for move training, instead focusing mostly on sprints and exercises that didn't require more space.

The dark, enclosed environment had affected them all differently. Zephyr had hated the experience, asking to be returned only an hour into the expedition and only coming out at mealtimes. Dawn had no idea what she was going to do with him when she had to make the much longer trip through Mt. Coronet to travel to the eastern side of Sinnoh. Neither Crest nor Ion enjoyed the constant darkness and dampness, but they didn't mind nearly as much as poor Zephyr. Dawn's heart nearly broke watching the little bird be so sullen and downtrodden when he normally never let anything get him down.

Thus. the first thing she did after letting her hand drop was release Zephyr right into the sky. He fell for a second, startled at the sudden release after a full day in his Pokéball. A moment later he was screaming his way higher into the sky, wings glowing white with Quick Attack as he rushed to the open sky.

Ion watched Zephyr fly higher from his place at her right side, the glow beginning to fade from his blue coat. He hadn't gotten to meet Zephyr for more than the initial day outside the Gate and the single hour inside, so he wasn't prepared for his boisterous teammate yet. That would change soon. Especially if Zephyr stayed this energetic for long.

Ion had stuck close to Dawn during their jaunt through the caves, eyes darting around nervously and occasionally glowing for a few seconds. The electric type appeared timid, but whenever they had to fight off a random Zubat or the occasional Geodude Ion became much more serious, facing down their opponent without flinching. It was an odd reaction to danger, but Dawn assumed it came from having to be on guard all the time while traveling on his own after being kicked out of his original pack. Hopefully he would calm down a little now that they were in full sunlight.

Crest had a more worrying reaction to the cave; he was even quieter than usual and unwilling to interact with Ion or Zephyr much when they stopped. He was more resistant to training, especially when Dawn tried to have him pair up to do team exercises. He wandered off on his own more, staying just close enough to be visible without being near Dawn and Ion as they walked. Even worse, this wasn't new behavior. He'd been less responsive to her and the team ever since leaving Jubilife City. He'd gotten a little better after Ion joined the team but when they entered the Gate his behavior had taken a sharp nosedive. If she didn't figure out a way to help him mesh with the team soon, she didn't know what might happen.

Dawn and her partners began to pick their way down the rocky path that led into the city. It was well maintained but in Dawn's (somewhat recent) experience, any path near the mountains was bound to pick up a healthy coating of loose rocks meant to trip innocent trainers. Most city dwellers and travelers who weren't traveling trainers would have taken the train into the city so there was no need for the workers to clear this path too often.

Before the modern age all the cities set in Sinnoh's central Coronet range had been forced to be self-sufficient or export a valuable good as it took weeks to ascend into and return from the cities set in such harsh terrain. With the invention of trains, all cities in Sinnoh now had access to quick transportation across the region, even if most of the train lines were underground in an effort to avoid disturbing the natural landscape and Pokémon. Unless you were a traveling trainer or had plenty of time to spare to enjoy the aboveground scenery, it made far more sense to take the train between cities instead of the riskier and longer roads.

Oreburgh didn't have the giant crowds of Jubilife but it was a busy city, people rushing to and fro in the streets with their Pokémon partners at their sides. Dawn saw a disproportionate amount of rock, steel and fighting types on the street. Most of the people passing by were big and burly, clearly used to working with their bodies. The streets were generally clean and well organized but there was a fine layer of dirt ground into every available surface. This was a city of hard workers, physical laborers and miners working to supply the rest of Sinnoh with the minerals and materials they needed to thrive.

The importance of the Oreburgh Mine could be seen everywhere. Huge vents set into the sides of many buildings and sometimes the ground itself exchanged the stale air in the mines for fresh air. It also allowed for steam to escape and hopefully cleaned the mines of any poisonous gasses. The vents also explained why the air was so clean; the city needed to keep it pristine for the miners to have fresh air. Pollution would be a big problem, more so than in most other cities.

Many of the buildings were made of different types of stone; a stately hotel made of granite, a huge bank of white marble, a warehouse in wood and slate. Huge conveyor belts wove between many of the warehouses and other buildings, all converging at one end of the city, near the giant hole that was the Oreburgh Mine. Even the Pokémon Center reflected the mining bent of the town; the iconic red roof was made of a shiny red stone that Dawn couldn't identify. It was much smaller than the giant version they had seen in Jubilife, but it gave Dawn the same sense of relief to walk through the automatic double doors into the lobby. After over a week of traveling and two days with without seeing the sky, they were due for a little relaxation.

#

A light tap touched Dawn's nose, rousing her from a sound sleep. A lazy hand came up to try to bat it away but found nothing there. The moment her hand moved away, the light tap returned, a little more forceful this time. Dawn's hand moved faster in order to catch the offender but all she succeeded in doing was smacking herself in the face.

Dawn shot up, tossing a little blue body to the floor with a high-pitched mewl of confusion. Still rubbing her nose Dawn looked down to see Ion on the floor, big yellow eyes trained on her in confusion.

"Sorry buddy, you surprised me. What's up?" Dawn looked over to the nightstand and got her answer immediately. Light streamed in between the slats of the window shades and the alarm clock on the nightstand read _10:07 am._ She normally got up at 8 at the latest and fed her Pokémon immediately.

"Sorry buddy, I didn't know how late I slept," Dawn reassured the confused kit, hauling herself out of bed with effort and hunting in her bag for fresh clothes. It took a couple rounds of the smell test before she found something that would work. Looking over at her bed she found Crest and Zephyr still fast asleep. Crest had made himself a nest of pillows and blankets taken from the bed and was curled up unmoving in the corner of the room while Zephyr snored on from his perch on the headboard. There were perches made for flying types near the window, but Zephyr had chosen to sleep with the rest of the team.

"Well they're not getting up anytime soon," Dawn told her fellow (somewhat) early riser. "Let's go find some food and some sunshine." Dawn scooped up Ion and walked downstairs to find some breakfast, the electric type held securely in her arms. Every once in a while she could feel a light static charge run across her skin from Ion's paws but it was small enough to ignore.

Dawn decided to forego the Pokémon Center's breakfast buffet, choosing to explore the city a bit instead. It was a beautiful day outside, sunny with a cold breeze that took the edge off the sun's heat. Only two blocks down the road Dawn found a small market set up, people wandering between stalls of food and handmade goods while the sellers expounded on the quality of their wares.

Dawn and Ion wandered from stall to stall. Only Dawn's meager trainer account stopped her from buying many of the delicious looking pastries and fruits. Ion tried to give her Baby-Doll Eyes look when they passed a stall selling treats made for electric-types, but she was somewhat able to resist the begging. "Sorry buddy, I don't have the funds to treat us right now. I promise I'll buy us a great reward after we get the winnings from the gym battle." Ion perked up at that, looking up at his trainer with curiosity clear in his eyes.

"I haven't told you much about that yet, have I? Well Oreburgh City's Gym Leader uses Rock type Pokémon. I know that Roark does three-on-three battles, so you'll get to fight. That's why we've been working on Bite these past few days. It won't be easy, but I know we can win!" _We have to win. This is our first big test, the battle that will prove we can do this, together. If we can win a battle in which two of our fighters are at a major disadvantage, we can take on anything. We can do this!_

Ion seemed to sense her inner thoughts, wriggling in her arms and mewling loudly, licking her with his tiny tongue. He looked up at her with those huge yellow eyes and mewled again, his tail thumping against her chest and electric sparks making all the hair on her arms stand up straight beneath her sleeves. He believed, that was clear. How could she not do the same?

"Well before we drive Roark into the ground, let's find some foo-" Dawn hadn't even finished speaking when Ion wriggled again, this time thrashing so frantically that she had to bend down and set him on the ground, trying to avoid the stomping feet of all the people moving around the market. The second his paws touched the ground Ion took off for a nearby stall, leaping onto the table and scaring the poor proprietor half to death. By the time Dawn ran over Ion had his paws wrapped around a small jar and was enthusiastically trying to tear the lid off.

"…Peanut butter? Really?"

When Dawn and Ion returned to the Pokémon Center half an hour later Ion was still in the process of licking his paws clean and Dawn was two jars of peanut butter poorer. While Ion was attacking his… _odd_ choice of breakfast Dawn had managed to pick up some berries for Crest and Zephyr. Zephyr could peck through an entire bush of Leppa berries in minutes, so she had a bundle for him and some Lum berries for Crest. Looking down at Ion falling flat on his face in an attempt to lick his paws and walk at the same time, Dawn could only hope that Ion's preference for peanut butter instead of the more nutritious berries would somehow help him become a triumphant warrior. It was a somewhat thin hope.

Gathering the silly electric type up in her arms again, Dawn walked into a room behind the main counter marked _Video Phones_. Sitting down at one of the monitors, she plugged in her mother's number and waited, Ion curling up in her lap with a contented purr. While she waited for her mother to pick up Dawn read the messages posted on a nearby notice board.

She was just reading a warning about increased Pokémon theft and something about stolen research from a nearby lab when Johanna picked up. Dawn could only appreciate now how nice it was to see her clearly instead of through the tiny screen of her Pokétch.

"Dawn! Oh, honey thank you for calling! How are you doing? How are your Pokémon? Are you eating enough? Where are you, did you reach Oreburgh City yet? How's-"

"Mom! I'm fine, my Pokémon are doing well too. Yes, I'm in Oreburgh City, I'm planning on challenging the Gym Leader tomorrow after we've recovered a little from the journey. Anyway, I called you two days ago, what's with the outburst?"

"I just get worried about you honey, as you know very well. It's lonelier here without you, without… _anyone_ around… " Silence reigned for long enough to cause Ion to look up in concern. His questioning mewl made Dawn snap out of her thoughts and turn back to her mother.

"Oh come on mom that's not true, Kanghaskhan and Gliscor are still around!"

Johanna laughed, patting her Pokéball belt with fondness. "Of course, they're trying so hard to keep me busy that they're exhausting themselves! Additionally, I've been called into Sandgem Town to help the professor out more than usual these past weeks. I think we're on the edge of a breakthrough and he needs extra people to help sift through findings."

"Wow sounds interesting! If you get any big updates call me alright? I want to be the first to know!" Dawns mind was already racing with possibilities. Could they be on the brink of a new evolution item or closer to finding out what force made Pokémon evolve in the first place? Lucas had been talking about a possible link between the Legends and evolution recently…

"You know I won't be able to resist talking about it but I promise you'll be the first one to hear," her mother laughed. "Good luck against Roark! I know that you and Crest, Zephyr and Ion can beat him. I'm so proud of you Dawn. I know this is what your father would have wanted for you, and I know that he would be proud too." Dawn's smile became a little harder, her eyes sharper. One fist in her lap clenched, causing Ion to look up at her in concern again. This time he got up and went to lick her, causing her mother to squeal and move closer to the camera.

"Ooh is that Ion? He's so cute! Oh look at that little tail, and those huge ears and-"

"Okay mom gotta go bye!" Dawn hit the _end call_ button fast before sitting back and fending off Ion's attempt to lick every part of her face with his happy (and slightly zappy) tongue. Johanna was a great mother, but she didn't want to sit through ten minutes of her fawning over Ion on camera. Hauling herself up and settling Ion in her arms again she went to wake up the rest of the team. It was time to for a little exploration, then time to plan their strategy for smashing some rocks.

#

Oreburgh Mine was much bigger than it had looked from the Oreburgh Gate. Even then it had appeared as a massive hole in the side of the mountain. Standing in front of it Dawn felt like she was about to be eaten by the Guzzlord the myths of Alola spoke of, a huge monster that ate everything in its path.

She could see the trembles Crest was doing his best to hide as they stared down the dark mine entrance and the drop they could just barely see on the other side. He considered himself the leader of this team, so he thought he couldn't show weakness, couldn't show fear, especially with his partners and trainer looking on. His pride would not allow it. Hidden trembles or not, when Dawn stepped forward to descend the stairs into the mine Crest ran out ahead of her.

Ion trailed close behind his senior teammate, eyes darting around and fur glowing ever so slightly. Zephyr was likewise trying to be brave, sitting on Dawn's shoulder and pretending he didn't have a care in the world. It didn't stop Dawn from feeling his talons digging into her jacket with more force than normal.

Thankfully the mine entrance was only dark for the first hundred steps. After a few minutes the glowing strip on the staircase guiding their way was joined by a string of lanterns set into the wall. As they descended more and more of the lights were replaced by some sort of glowing mineral that illuminated the dark tunnel with ghostly blue light.

The light wasn't necessary for guidance by the time Dawn and her team reached the bottom of the stairs. When Dawn stepped off the last stair onto level ground her ears were throbbing from the sounds of rock breaking, the pounding of jackhammers and the shouts echoing from deeper in the cave. All three of her Pokémon had their wings or paws over their ears in an attempt to block out the noise. Thankfully there was a box containing muffling headsets in a box next to the staircase, along with a box of helmets. They wouldn't fit the heads of Ion or Zephyr so Dawn recalled them, fitting a headset on herself and Crest and choosing helmets that would fit them both.

Lights and signs illuminated the areas that were open to the public, allowing Dawn and Crest to wander deeper into the mine without getting lost. The air this far below the surface felt odd, as though there was a static charge present at all times. Dawn could only assume it was the effect of all the minerals on the electromagnetic field in the area. She had heard that there was a similar effect in certain parts of Mt. Coronet that could cause… _strange_ phenomena. There was a reason that not many people tried to explore off the beaten path in the caverns of Mt. Coronet; most of the people who tried never came back or returned driven completely insane with stories to match.

Burly men and women streaked with dirt and coal dust walked by, often accompanied by Pokémon partners wearing specially made headsets. Machop and Machoke were the most common partners, probably because their incredible strength and deft hands could make the construction work a lot easier. Members of the Geodude line were also popular, and Dawn even saw a Rhydon and Hippowdon when she and Crest arrived in a huge cavern that served as an intersection point between countless tunnels. Glowing mineral deposits lit up the ceiling like stars and lines of glowing ore ran along the lengths of the walls to provide plenty of light. Huge steel drums and smaller crates lined the walls at irregular intervals. Some of the tunnels branching off from the main cavern were lit by strings of lightbulbs and wire while others were lit by glowing pieces of ore like the main tunnel.

Dawn could only guess what they were mining in the tunnels with the glowing stuff but from the dark streaks and black ore she could see in the tunnels lit by lightbulbs Dawn guessed that those were the tunnels leading to the coal veins. This town was famous for their huge coal veins and processing of coal after all. While humanity hadn't relied on coal for power for decades it still had many industrial uses that made it valuable. Pokémon carried the coal in large baskets to dump them into a series of carts being pulled along by a conveyor belt, which would eventually take the coal and other minerals to the surface. The huge cavern was oddly reminiscent of a Combee hive; thousands of workers, people and Pokémon alike, moving around in what looked like a chaotic dance but was actually highly organized.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" a voice asked to her right.

Dawn nearly leapt out of her skin turning to face whoever had spoken. Somehow, she could hear the man clearly even through the thick headphones.

A young man faced her, watching the workers move about the floor with a fond smile. His reddish-brown hair was covered by a bright red miner's helmet and his clothes were so coated in rock and coal dust that Dawn could only just make out the original gray cloth beneath. Even in the dim lighting she recognized him. Roark the Rock, the Oreburgh City Gym Leader.

"H-hello sir! Yes, it is. What material are the glowing lines made out of?"

His eyes lit up and a wide smile formed on his face. Dawn knew that expression all too well. It was the expression that screamed "I'm so glad you asked!"

Roark walked up to stand beside her, hands in his pockets and eyes still fixed on the mass of workers. "Great question! Fire would be dangerous down here and we tried electric lighting, but it kept breaking and sparking so we changed to this method. Those are lines of phosphorite. Phosphorous glows when exposed to oxygen but the ore itself won't glow. We had psychics fix an illusion of glowing to the lines of phosphorite; it was easier to fix it to the lines for some reason, something about calling forth a future state? I don't know about psychics; I know about rocks. Limestones and mudstones most commonly carry phosphorite… "

He kept on going, lost in detail about the various minerals and their properties. Dawn didn't understand most of it, there were too many terms she was unfamiliar with, but Roark clearly knew a lot about the mines and was thrilled to have someone to talk to. She could understand that; she was the same way about Pokémon.

A minute or two into his long-winded explanation Dawn heard a word that made sense, but she didn't understand.

"The Underground? What's that? Aren't we already underground?"

"Oh, you haven't heard the stories?" Roark gestured to the huge cavern they stood in and the dozens of tunnels leading out of it at every angle. "Legend says that there is an endless maze of tunnels under Sinnoh. You can enter from anywhere if you dig deep enough because they run everywhere; from Canalave City all the way to Sunyshore. There are supposedly thousands of rare gems, ores and evolutionary stones, fossils from ancient Pokémon we have yet to discover, all sorts of treasures!"

Roark balled up one fist and raised it over his head, eyes shining with an almost religious fervor in the dim light. "I've always wanted to discover it for myself. I could build a secret base, train my Pokémon and explore forever! You could do _anything_ there. No one's found it yet, so I want to be the first! " Roark let his fist fall and looked back at Dawn. "If you're interested in learning more about it, the Mining Museum has a section dedicated to talking about the legends."

"I'll take a look," Dawn promised. This sounded interesting; finding a fossil could get her a great rock-type Pokémon, evolutionary stones were expensive to buy but always useful and she had always been interested in the legends of Sinnoh. It was certainly worth a look.

"Oh I'm sorry, I got off track! What's your name and what brings you to Oreburgh City? Your Piplup looks impressive!" Crest swelled with pride at the compliment, squeaking an affirmative.

"I'm Dawn from Twinleaf Town. I'm here to challenge you for the Coal Badge, so Crest here might become your worst nightmare."

Roark laughed, saying, "We'll see about that! I'm taking the morning shift and the rest of the afternoon shift down here in the mines, but how does a noon match work? The benefit of coming by this early in the season is you don't have to wait long for a match!" He smiled at Dawn and Piplup, patting the Pokéballs at his belt. Unlike the rest of his clothes they were pristine, clean of dust and ready to be used.

"A noon match sounds perfect. I'll see you at the gym tomorrow. Thank you!"

"You'd better be ready, I won't pull my punches. I'll show you what it means when they say me and my team are tough as rocks! Tomorrow is your chance to show the world what you can do; I'm expecting a great match!" Roark walked away, whistling a catchy tune as he joined a group of miners loitering by the entrance to a far tunnel. Picking up a pickaxe that was leaning on the wall nearby Roark and his group disappeared into the tunnel, their laughter and jokes already echoing off the walls.

Dawn signaled to Crest and they turned around, heading back for the tunnel entrance. She had a museum to explore and plans to make. There was so much left to do before tomorrow.

#

The map of the Underground looked a lot like someone had thrown a pile of spaghetti on a map, picked it up, then drawn tunnels where the noodles had been. The tunnels ran from north of Snowpoint City to the furthest southern point of the Coronet Range. On the walls next to the map there were plaques and inscriptions describing the legends of the Underground. All Dawn could think as she looked at the map was how easy it would be to get from place to place using the Underground, but also how awful it would be to do so. She was already dreading the trip through the caves of Mt. Coronet; who would want to spend weeks on end in pitch-black tunnels when there was light and trees and Pokémon aboveground?

Aside from the Underground exhibit there were plenty of other interesting things in the museum. One wall had an exhibit on the formation and uses of coal, Oreburgh City's biggest export. She'd been able to learn more about phosphorite from displays about the history of the mine nearby, this time without Roark's confusing terminology. Other materials displayed ranged from huge geodes to a rare Dusk Stone that appeared to cast everything within a few feet of it in dusky purple-blue light.

Another wall was dedicated entirely to fossils and depictions of Fossil Pokémon. A huge Tyrantrum skeleton dominated the majority of the exhibit but the Aerodactyl skeleton hanging from the ceiling and the paintings of Aurorus walking across great ice floes were just as impressive in Dawn's opinion. However, most of Dawn's attention was fixed on the display of Fossil Pokémon from the Sinnoh Region: Cranidos, Rampardos, Shieldon and Bastiodon.

Dawn already knew Roark's team: Geodude, Onix and Cranidos. After gaining more than one badge the teams a Gym Leader used to face their challengers varied, but each Gym Leader was required to publish their beginner's team. Dawn knew just from looking at the skeleton in front of her that she was in for a hard fight; the entire skull of the Cranidos was lined with vicious spikes and the huge head-dome was perfectly intact, time unable to damage the main weapon and defense of the ancient Pokémon.

Reading the information about the rock type didn't gain her any extra insights either; knowing how potent a weapon the head-dome was wouldn't help her defeat Cranidos. The exhibit on Shieldon gave her more to work with; apparently that particular species was vulnerable if attacked from behind. That could help when Dawn had to face Byron and his legendary Bastiodon in a couple of months' time.

One exhibit near the exit caught Dawn's eye as she wandered towards the museum exit. A plaque explaining the common biological features of rock type Pokémon. Reading it through, she couldn't stop the smile growing on her face. It was time for a trip to the PokéMart; if she was right, she'd just found a way to turn her electric type into a warrior that could take down Roark…

#

Dawn twisted her hair between her fingers, her grip so tight some of the strands came loose at regular intervals. Her other hand tapped the Pokéballs sitting on her belt, exploring their shapes and scratches, the empty spaces waiting for new team members to fill them. Waiting was nerve-wracking, sitting outside the entrance to the battlefield while the final preparations were made for the gym battle. She understood the necessity, but that didn't mean she had to like it or didn't yearn for the doors to open.

Dawn had to win this battle. She knew it with all the iron certainty of her heart telling her that one day she would be a Pokémon Master. She had to win to prove to herself that she was right to follow this path, right to follow the calling in her heart and blood, right to battle and gather her team until they stood at the peak of the Pokémon world. But even more than that, she had to win for Crest.

Crest drifting further away from Dawn and the team. She couldn't believe it had taken her so long to see the problem: their defeat in Jubilife City. Their loss to Lucas must have affected Crest's confidence in her ability to train him, leading him to distance himself from her and the team. He'd gotten better when they caught Ion, the successful battle lifting his spirits and his opinion of Dawn, but their time in the caves had been so dismal it must have made him focus on the negatives again.

Dawn had one chance left: this gym battle. If they could pull off a win, especially with two members of the team at a serious disadvantage, she could prove to Crest that she was a worthy partner, that they would become a great team one day. She had to win. Crest couldn't take another blow to his pride at this point or he might abandon Dawn and the team. This wasn't a fun battle with Barry or Lucas or the trainers on the road, where the only thing on the line was a little money and her pride. She had to win this battle.

They had to win.

"You're up."

The double doors leading to the battlefield opened even as the voice crackled over the speaker. . It was time. Dawn stood up from the bench, her left hand falling away from her hair and right hand resting on her Pokéballs, which shivered slightly at her touch.

_For Crest and the future we will make together._

Dawn strode out onto the field to the cheers of the watching crowd. Gym battles were open to the public, but only early or famous challengers really got audiences. At this point in the season there weren't many other battles happening so a crowd of about twenty people watched from the stands. Once more people started going after badges and the Lily of the Valley Conference grew closer challengers would start coming more frequently and people would either come all day or come only to watch famous or interesting challengers. Most of her audience looked to be mine workers; she recognized a couple she'd seen down in the mine the day before. Probably friends of Roark.

The Gym Leader waited for her on the other side of the field, a wide smile on his face and Pokéball already in his hand. The field was smooth dirt with a few jagged stones erupting from random spots to form natural barriers.

Dawn took her place in the challenger's box and the referee lifted his flag. "This is a battle for the Coal Badge between Dawn of Twinleaf Town and Gym Leader Roark! This will be a three-on-three battle with no substitutions! Battle _start_!" He waved his flag down, the audience roared and the battle began.

"Let's rock Geodude!" Roark called, summoning a familiar floating rock with arms. Geodude uncurled and raised its fists, ready for battle.

"Show them what you can do Zephyr!" Dawn yelled as the Starly appeared. He zoomed upward shrieking his heart out as the audience cheered. Dawn could see more than one miner shaking their heads at her choice of Pokémon. Dawn didn't mind; she had a plan.

"Zephyr, Double Team!" Zephyr's body blurred, splitting into ten identical copies of himself. Each new Starly soared at a different angle over the battlefield, weaving between one another in an attempt to be as confusing as possible for the land-locked Geodude. Every once in a while a Zephyr would dive down with glowing wings, attempting to land a solid hit while Geodude was distracted.

Roark wasn't fazed by the tactic. "Give it a widespread Rock Throw Geodude." Geodude began grabbing clumps of dirt from the battlefield, hardening them into rocks in its hands before throwing. At first the rocks were slow with large gaps between throws, allowing each Zephyr to dodge them with ease, but they started to come with increasing frequency and velocity until one Zephyr clone after another was disappearing with bursts of white light. She'd need to strike back before they were all gone and Zephyr was hit.

"Whirlwind," Dawn ordered. The four remaining Zephyrs began to fly in a circle, conjuring a Whirlwind between them. It sucked up all the rocks that Geodude tried to throw at Zephyr, soon forming a small rocky tornado

Roark wasn't willing to let Dawn suck up all their ammo. "Sand attack!"

Geodude grabbed handfuls of sand and threw them without transmuting them to rocks. The Whirlwind became a sand tornado, making it hard to see and the roar of moving stone and dirt made it impossible to hear anything quieter than the roar of the audience. Dawn could only barely hear Zephyr cry out somewhere in the haze.

"Zephyr, stop the Whirlwind!" Dawn's heart was in her throat as the Whirlwind died, shooting rocks and sand everywhere. The nearly invisible psychic barriers that all official battlefields were required to have stopped the debris from reaching the trainers or the audience, but it meant Dawn couldn't see Zephyr.

The dust cleared and Dawn internally cursed.

Zephyr hung above the battlefield, a few feathers out of place and covered with sand but unwilling to give up. Below him Geodude had more rocks in its hand, ready to begin the barrage again. That wasn't what made Dawn want to despair. There were at least ten huge pointed stones hovering around the edges of the field. Stealth Rock.

She couldn't keep playing defense. It was time for some offense.

"Quick Attack!" Zephyr became a streak of white light, appearing right in front of Geodude, wings raised for a blow.

"Rollout!" Zephyr's wings did next to nothing against Geodude's rocky hide. Geodude took the blow without blinking before rocketing forward, slamming Zephyr into the ground with a harsh tackle enhanced by its hard rock body.

"Zephyr!" Dawn cried, heart beating too fast and fists shaking slightly as Geodude rolled closer and closer to Zephyr's prone form. "Come on, you've got to do it now!"

With only a few feet between them Zephyr struggled to his feet and flapped his wings, summoning a Whirlwind seconds before Geodude hit. Geodude lost momentum centimeter by centimeter, inching forward until the wind stopped all forward movement and dragged the rock type into the air.

"That's it Zephyr! Send it for a spin!" Dawn cried, a wide smile breaking out on her face as Geodude was whirled around faster and faster by the tornado. Zephyr was still on the ground, unable to take to the wing due to his injuries but focusing all his might on making the Whirlwind move faster.

Roark was starting to look a little worried. "Geodude, Rock Throw!"

Geodude uncurled from its ball form, revealing it was still holding on to a handful of rocks. It threw them straight at Zephyr, who could barely stand let alone dodge.

Dawn's heart went from her throat all the way to the soles of her feet in an instant. One last chance: "Zephyr, throw it!"

With one last proud cry Zephyr spun the Whirlwind as fast as possible then let go, sending Geodude on a crash course for the floor at a tremendous speed. The Rock Throw and Geodude hit at the same time. Zephyr shrieked with pain and collapsed even as Geodude slammed into the ground hard enough to make the battlefield shake.

Dawn didn't listen to the referee declare Zephyr unable to battle, recalling him immediately. Holding the ball up to her mouth she whispered congratulations to her brave flying type over the cheering of the audience. The ball shook slightly then went still, Zephyr sleeping off his pain.

Dawn looked up to find Roark recalling Geodude, grinning at her even as the red light faded. "That was pretty good! It's been a long time since a Starly managed to hurt Geodude," Roark told her before hefting another Pokémon. "But Geodude is nothing compared to my friend here!"

A huge Onix materialized on the field, shaking the building when the huge body hit the floor. Dawn eyed it critically, trying not to let its size scare her. She focused on the spots where each enormous boulder connected to the next, the exposed eyes. Onix might appear invincible but it had weak spots. She had to exploit those weak spots.

Ion appeared in the flash of red light, spreading his legs out into a four-point stance and sparking with blue-tinted electricity. There was no sign of the kit who huddled behind Dawn's legs or pounced on any available peanut butter. His hard-eyed glare, pricked ears and slowly waving tail presented the image of a predator on the hunt. He might have appeared tiny next to Onix's bulk but he was ready to fight.

He wasn't prepared for the barrage of rocks that soared towards him the second he was released. He let out a high-pitched squeak of pain as Stealth Rocks dug into his side, opening light gashes and bruising his sides. Before he could last out and try to knock the rocks away, they were gone, back to hovering at the edges of the battlefield as they had been before. A true master of Stealth Rock could make them attack at any point during a battle, but the damage this version has done was more than enough. Not a minute into the battle Ion was already struggling with pain and injuries.

Dawn could hear the audience murmuring again, quieter as they waited for someone to make a move. She'd proved she could take down Roark's Pokémon even with a disadvantage in the last match, but it was hard to believe the injured electric type could even scratch the behemoth before him.

_Let's show them how it's done. _"Ion, approach for a Bite then stun it!" Laughter floated down from the stands at the words, mocking her attempt to fight even as Ion ran forward, tail up and shadowy particles gathering around his teeth.

Roark was a Gym Leader and knew better than to discount Ion as a threat. "Onix, Rock Tomb! Trap it then Bind!"

Onix was much faster than Dawn could have believed, eyes glowing as it pulled more rocks up from below the battlefield to block Ion even as it rushed forward, a landslide on the move. Evasion training with Crest and Zephyr paid off as Ion dodged each Rock Tomb that appeared, rushing to Onix's side before the rock type could bring its tail around to Bind him.

As Onix's head swung around to face its small opponent Dawn yelled "Ion, now!" and raised her hand to block her eyes.

The world exploded into white light, barely stopped by the thin barrier of Dawn's hand and closed eyes. When she opened her eyes she had to blink a few times to get rid of the spots. Most of the audience and those on the battlefield were having much more trouble.

Ion's electric attacks might not hurt Onix, but yesterday's museum visit told Dawn that there was a target she could go after with electricity: the weak, dark-tuned eyes of underground species. Ion could naturally create small flashes of light, but after she'd gotten him the Flash TM last night, he could so much more.

Onix was roaring in pain, head shaking back and forth frantically as it tried to process the blast of light and the small form currently biting at the soft tissue hidden where Onix's boulders connected to one another.

Roark still had his hand in front of his eyes and was blinking as fast as he could to clear his sight, but he didn't need his eyes to hear Onix's roars of pain as Ion bit into its soft spots. "Onix, Dig! Throw it off you!"

Onix dove into the ground, forcing Ion to leap to the ground before he was sucked into the hole. All the electric type could do was run around the field, trying to figure out where Onix would emerge.

"Ion, use Charge then Flash in the hole!"

Ion jumped in the hole left behind, charging the electricity on his coat. Once it was visibly sparking over his little form Ion once again burst into bright light, even brighter than before thanks to the extra power from Charge. Thankfully for the spectators and trainers Ion's position a few feet under the ground made the light more bearable.

Bearable to those aboveground, not below ground. Onix burst from the ground again, roaring and thrashing as its sensitive eyes were overloaded with light for a second time. Ion wasn't as lucky with his positioning this time; Onix's huge head slammed into him as it thrashed and wailed. Both Roark and Dawn cried out in sync for their Pokémon as they struggled to recover.

Onix once again dove underground as Ion pushed himself to his feet, wobbling a little from his wounds from Stealth Rock and Onix's impromptu Tackle. Ion made to find one of the holes again but Onix was not nearly as patient this time, exploding from the ground and smashing into Ion before he could take more than three steps towards the nearest hole. Ion didn't make a sound as he collapsed.

Dawn recalled Ion as cheers swelled from the stands, Onix roaring its victory even as it blinked and swayed, clear wounds visible on its body. Dawn smiled softly as she saw the fruit of Ion's labors. They still had a chance to win this. They would win this. She would make sure of it.

"Good effort, but did you have to use Flash so much?" Roark grumbled, still rubbing at his eyes.

"I make use of what I've got. Now it's all up to you Crest!" Dawn released her last hope and first friend onto the battlefield scarred with holes, rocks and craters from the extended battle. Crest puffed up his chest and trilled as he appeared, proud to announce his debut on the battlefield.

The trill turned into a squawk a second later when the forgotten Stealth Rocks rushed at him and Dawn called, "Look out!"

Crest was quicker on the uptake than Ion, leaping back and using Bubble to destroy the rocks as they rushed at him. He wasn't fast enough to evade them all, earning scrapes across his wings and back, but he managed to avoid the level of catastrophic damage that Ion had taken. Surrounded by rock shards and breathing heavily, Crest stared down his opponent.

"Onix, Dig!" Roark took the first move this time, directing Onix back into the ground to use the same strategy that had been so effective against Ion. Unlike Ion, Crest had a way to fight back.

"Cover the field with Bubble, then Bubble into the holes!" Crest spat Bubbles everywhere he could reach as he ran to the hole, filling the battlefield until there was nowhere Onix could emerge without taking damage. Crest spat a stream of unending Bubbles into the depths of Onix's hole for good measure, ensuring the rock-type wouldn't remain below ground where Crest couldn't chase him. Moments later Onix howled and emerged a few feet away from Crest only to be hit by Crest's Bubble trap. Onix fell to the floor with a mighty crash, the stinging touch of water too much for it in its weakened state.

Crest squawked proudly and Dawn shouted congratulations to him from her end of the field before settling her gaze on Roark. The Gym Leader hefted his last Pokéball, a wide grin on his face. "I knew that Piplup would be a tough opponent. Most rookies don't get past Onix. But are you ready for the real challenge?"

"Bring it on!" Dawn challenged. Crest screamed his assent in sync with his trainer. After weeks of being at odds, they were finally on the same page. Win or lose this battle, they were in it together.

"Then let's rock Cranidos!" A Pokémon familiar to Dawn from the museum yesterday appeared on the field, the huge dome of its skull even more impressive now that there was a thick layer of rock-like blue skin covering the iron-hard bone. Cranidos bellowed a challenge.

Crest stood still, waiting for an order. Dawn steadied herself. _Let's do this._

"Crest, Bubble!" The stream of Bubbles shot forward, faster and more powerful than Crest's trap Bubbles, ready to do damage and put Cranidos off-balance.

Roark grinned and crossed his arms. "Cranidos, charge!" Cranidos ran forward, thick skull down in front of it like a battering ram. It ran straight through the Bubbles, not slowing in the slightest as Bubbles popped and exploded around it, taking the impact on its huge skull. It didn't appear to even _notice_ the attack.

Crest was so surprised at Cranidos' ability to ignore his Bubbles that he didn't dodge the Headbutt in time. Crest took the charge right in the chest, hit so hard that he didn't make a sound other than a slight wheeze as he shot towards Dawn's side of the field, hitting the ground with enough force to form a small crater upon landing. Even worse, Cranidos didn't stop charging.

"Get out of the way!" Dawn screamed, fear clawing at her throat like a thousand sharp-nailed hands.

Crest tried his best to scramble for the side. It didn't matter. Cranidos adjusted the trajectory of its charge with a single push from its left leg, the energy gathered on its wide blue skull changing from flickering white to deepest black in an instant. Crest was only clipped by Cranidos' skull this time but he was thrown backwards with just as much energy, thrown near the middle of the battlefield. He struggled stand, crying out from pain and exhaustion clear in his eyes.

Dawn had never been one of those people who knew the right move in an instant, who could know what to do from sheer battle instinct. What she could do was take everything she saw into account, take all her knowledge of Crest and the opponent and combine it to find a solution. Fear and panic wouldn't help her help Crest, so she cast them aside in favor of creating a strategy.

Dawn observed the battlefield, noting Crest's multitude of injuries first. She looked at Cranidos, who was making a sharp arc to face Crest again, slipping for the barest moment on a damp patch of the battlefield left over from Crest's Bubble trap. _That's it!_

"Crest, Water Sport all around you! Douse the field!" Crest didn't question the order, spouting large amounts of water from his beak and spraying it in a wide arc around the battlefield, creating a dry island for himself in the middle of a rocky, muddy ocean. Cranidos slowed as it hit the mud, struggling to move and stumbling more than once.

Crest kept pumping out water, making Cranidos all but swim in mud and rock. Cranidos was whining and thrashing in the mud, its rock-like body sensitive to the water and unhappy with its inability to charge. Crest pulled himself all the way to his feet, spitting out a stream of Bubbles once again. This time Cranidos could only block a few of them by lowering its head and was knocked back by the exploding spheres.

"Cranidos, Thunderbolt!" Roark cried, worry clear in his voice and on his face as Cranidos was knocked down into the mud, the damage from Bubble clear on its body even as it got itself more thoroughly stuck. Before evolution it didn't have much defense anywhere but its armored head.

Cranidos' spikes began to spark as it charged electricity. Crest couldn't take another hit and didn't have a defensive move. What could she do?

Dawn fixed her eyes on the mud at Crest's feet. Could Crest overcome his pride and trust her? Time to find out.

"Crest, block with the mud!"

Crest looked down at the mud at his feet. Dawn could almost see the thoughts running through his head. How bedraggled this would make him look, how it might not work anyway. How he could try to dodge and beat Cranidos back himself, how he didn't have to listen to the human.

But he dug his clean feathers into the mud anyway, trust and hope winning the battle over pride. Crest chose to trust his trainer, tossing as much mud as he could dig up in the air, ducking in case it wasn't enough.

Cranidos' Thunderbolt hit the impromptu shield and exploded, not powerful enough to blast through as it would if Cranidos were an electric type. It fizzled out and Crest capitalized, blasting a Bubble straight into Cranidos' exposed chest, kicking it back into the psychic barrier with a tremendous _bang_.

Everyone was silent for a moment as Cranidos slid to the ground, as Crest wobbled and swayed but climbed to his feet one last time, as the referee counted down the seconds.

"Cranidos is unable to battle! Victory to the challenger, Dawn of Twinleaf Town!"

Dawn ran forward as the crowd roared their approval, laughing her heart out as she sprinted towards the battered, exhausted and mud-covered form of her friend, her arms wide open. She was still a foot away when Crest leapt into her arms of his own accord, hugging her with his little wings even as her arms closed around him.

In that moment, Dawn and Crest both knew that they'd just earned the best friend they would ever have.

**#**

**One Gym Battle down, hopefully you enjoyed it! Sorry this chapter is so late, I always work a chapter ahead and the next chapter has been a bear to write. College sure doesn't help my writing schedule but I'll try to do better moving forward. Thanks for reading, see you next time!**


	4. The Road to Floaroma

Chapter 4: The Road to Floaroma

Route 203 hadn't changed at all during the time she'd spent in Oreburgh City. The same trees shaded the path, the same sun shone in the sky, the Starly still sang in the trees. Somewhere along the route Ion's old pack probably still roamed. It was Dawn and her team who were different as they set up camp a few miles outside the Oreburgh Gate.

In truth, she'd wanted to head north up Route 207 to get to Eterna City as fast as possible, but a rockslide had left the Oreburgh entrance to the route unusable for the next few weeks. Even Pokémon couldn't solve the problem of half the mountain blocking the path quickly, so she had to take the long way around. At least this way she had plenty of time to train before her next gym badge, and maybe pick up a new Pokémon. Floaroma Town's famous flower fields or the towering trees of Eterna Forest could be just the place to find a new team member.

Then again, her team members had already proven their worth and quality trumped quantity. Digging out her badge case from her pocket and flipping it open, Dawn stared at the badge nestled in the first spot, a stylized piece of coal lined in silver. Proof of their first victory against a Gym Leader, the empty slots a reminder of how far they had to go. Most important of all was Roark's advice when he gave her the gym badge: "_Great battle there! I told you that Piplup was impressive. I'd make sure you train up his defense though; once he evolves, he won't be as fast on his feet and he'll need to take hits better. You're relying too much on his mobility and offense at the moment. Think like a rock or you won't ever get to see his steel!"_

Pocketing the case again, Dawn looked over at where Crest was practicing Bubble while she started the fire. He'd grown quite a bit since leaving Twinleaf Town, the top of his head reaching almost halfway up her thighs now instead of just under her knees like when they'd first met. His wings were growing longer as well. The signs of evolution were growing all the clearer after their gym battle and Dawn hoped that he would evolve before they reached Eterna City.

A scream from above distracted her as Zephyr zoomed by overhead, working on his speed. He could have avoided getting tagged by Geodude's rocks so much if he was a little faster, so he was working nonstop to correct that weakness. Well, he was now that they were out of the cave. His only exercise in the Oreburgh Gate was chasing after random Zubat in larger caves.

Ion was in the middle of tackling a large rock, trying to keep Charge going through his claws and body as he worked to learn Spark. Spark was basically a less powerful version of Wild Charge, where Ion would cloak himself in a coat of electricity and charge at the opponent. At this point Ion couldn't summon quite enough power for the move or keep the energy contained to his body, so she had him practicing on a rock far from the rest of the team. Ion didn't have the best control yet and no one wanted an electric shock during training, especially when both of her other Pokémon were weak to Electric type moves.

Standing up, Dawn brushed the wood shavings off her pants and went over to help Crest. "How's it going?"

Crest looked frustrated and it wasn't hard to see why. The Pokédex said that to learn Bubblebeam a Pokémon had to practice with their Bubble until each individual Bubble cast a blue glow and the Bubbles had enough speed that they shot out in a straight line instead of a cloud. The Bubbles floating around them now had a bluish tint but were still mostly clear and weren't anywhere close to being in a line. Crest had been practicing Bubble nonstop since their first night together. His Bubble had gotten exponentially stronger and faster, but it refused to upgrade to the more powerful version. It didn't help that his water storages were still low after their battle with Roark; the night after the battle he couldn't cough up so much as a single Bubble and he was still stopping at every stream to fill up.

"Try again," Dawn encouraged him. "Maybe we can figure out if there's something you're doing wrong technique-wise." Crest flashed her a frustrated look but once again reared back, chest swelling and blew with all his might. The Bubbles were a little bit bluer this time but not anywhere near a line. Better for traps than true attack.

"Try taking a deeper breath and holding it for longer." The Bubbles didn't care for his efforts, spewing out in a thicker cloud than before. "Hmm, they were a little bit more powerful that time. Okay, let's try again and adjust the angle you're blowing at…"

They worked on it for half an hour with no results and Crest was just about to explode with anger.

"Stop bud, you'll just exhaust yourself."

Crest kept blowing, nearly knocking himself off his feet as he blew and blew and blew until his water reserves were near spent.

"Stop!" Dawn rushed over to catch Crest as he began to fall. Steadying her partner, Dawn crouched in front of him, seeing the frustration in his eyes like a fire in his soul. "Exhausting yourself when it isn't helping won't help you figure out Bubblebeam Crest. I promise you will learn this, but it won't be tonight."

Crest harrumphed and turned his head away, beak up, but didn't try to blow any more Bubbles as the ones around them popped one by one.

"Instead, we'll learn another move, one just as useful." That got Crest's eyes fixed on her again. Dawn withdrew her Pokédex, pulling up a video and turning the screen so that Crest could see.

Onscreen a Piloswine exhaled a plume of white mist, obscuring it from view of the video camera in moments. "That's Mist, an ice type move that will help you avoid attacks. If you can learn Mist, you'll have a lot more time to move around and get in position for attacks and avoid attacks coming at you. Since you aren't too durable before you evolve, I thought this would be a great move for you to learn for when we face powerful opponents, and we'll be facing a lot of powerful opponents. But if it's too hard to learn a new move while trying to learn Bubblebeam, we can leave it for later…."

That last sentence got him hooked. It wasn't in Crest to deny a challenge. Crest squeaked and jabbed a wing at the Pokédex.

"Great! I want you to focus on your water reserves. You need to figure out how to lower the temperature of your water before you release it for it to come out as Mist. Sit here for a while and focus while I go work with Ion. If you think you've got it, try using Water Sport with the colder water and see if it comes out as Mist. It might take a few tries but keep at it." Dawn stood up and walked away as Crest settled into a seated position, his eyes already closed.

_Five, four, three, two, one…_ The sound of Crest using Water Sport behind her was followed by an angry squawk and a few more seconds of silence before he tried again.

Dawn couldn't suppress the grin rising to her lips as she went to help her electric type. Crest would never change.

#

"_On the road, far from home, you don't have to feel alone, brave and strong, together we will be, its our destiny…_" Dawn may not have had the best vocals, but she was singing her heart out. She had Zephyr bobbing his head in tune and Ion mewing along to the song as they walked down the road. Crest just looked at them like they were all insane and inched away like he was afraid it could spread.

She was so invested in the song that Dawn barely noticed the slow approach of civilization. Only a sharp tug on her pants leg courtesy of Crest's beak let her avoid tripping on the abrupt transition from dirt to asphalt. Looking up, she saw the masses of people crowding the streets and the enormous buildings looming overhead.

_I sure haven't missed this._

Ion was trying to hide behind her as best he could, but a recent growth spurt meant it didn't work well. This shaking kit was the warrior who'd faced down an Onix? Dawn just shook her head and recalled him, allowing Zephyr to land on her shoulder and sweeping Crest into her arms before braving the path to the Jubilife Pokémon Center.

After dropping off her Pokémon with Nurse Joy at the front desk Dawn settled in to work on her strategy notebook, ignoring the chatter around her and too-loud TV reporting on some poacher at large. Something J? It didn't matter.

Crest was _so close_ to learning Bubblebeam, it was infuriating. No matter how much they worked on his power and speed with Bubble it refused to upgrade into the more damaging and powerful stream of bubbles. They had spent hours on the technique during their trip back to Jubilife, but something was clearly missing. On the other hand, Mist was progressing well. It didn't linger in the air long at the moment, but Crest could produce the mist needed for the move in small quantities.

Zephyr was so close to evolution that she was sure he would evolve before or when they reached Floaroma Town. He was growing larger and more aggressive and Dawn now had to keep him in his Pokéball whenever too many trainers were around, or he would go to the strongest looking Pokémon around and immediately challenge them. She didn't want to teach him any moves until he evolved because he would have to spend some time getting used to his new body, and if he was in the middle of learning a new move it could set him back. That would only frustrate him, so for now she would have work on his speed and help out with the other's training. Dawn would spend his training time figuring out exercises that could help him adapt to evolution.

Ion was in desperate need of an offensive electric-type type move, since his Charge and Tackle combination wouldn't work on anything that wasn't already sensitive to electricity. His work with Spark was progressing slowly but surely. He had made some progress with power generation during the walk to Jubilife, but his control was still lacking, sparks flying everywhere and exhausting him when he tried to use the move. Zephyr and Crest now took great pains to stay far away from Ion when he was training.

Ion was also growing larger, though not as much as the other two. Most of his growth could be seen in the way the black fur that formed his "collar" was spreading, reaching halfway down his legs and growing up towards his head. According to the Pokédex he would be ready for evolution when the black fur reached the top of his head.

As Dawn finished up the last of her notes and closed her notebook_, _she glanced at her Pokétch. She stood up and looked up at the clock on the wall to be sure. Lucas and Professor Rowan were half an hour late. Lucas was never late, a habit he'd picked up from working with Professor Rowan who hated latecomers. What was keeping them?

Nurse Joy called over the intercom and Dawn went to pick up her Pokémon. Stepping outside, Dawn summoned Zephyr. The flying type announced his release with a scream and a loop in the air before landing on Dawn's shoulder. She staggered from his weight and the force of his landing.

"I won't regret it when you're too big to land on me," she told him solemnly as she regained her balance. Zephyr just chuffed, calling her bluff. "Lucas and Professor Rowan were supposed to meet me here but they're late. Do you mind searching for them? You met Lucas last time we were in Jubilife City. Professor Rowan is an older human with white hair, he should be with Lucas." Zephyr chirped an affirmative and took off, circling over her head for a moment before zooming down the street.

Dawn could only shake her head when he took a moment to dive at a Natu flying nearby, nailing the wing joint with Quick Attack and causing it to spiral down towards the ground. He waited to see if it would come back up for a real battle before continuing on. She could only hope he stayed mostly on task.

She didn't have to wait long before Zephyr came back. Zephyr flew back at full speed, not even landing as he zoomed back and executed a midair loop so he could face the way he came, twittering and shrieking the whole way.

_Zephyr wouldn't act this way if it wasn't serious. _Dawn broke into a run, pushing through the crowds as fast as she could while Zephyr flew ahead, using Quick Attack and Wing Attack to clear out any flying Pokémon in his way. Dawn didn't try to reprimand him, her mind too busy going over every possible alternative for why Zephyr would be in such a hurry and why Lucas and Professor Rowan would be late other than them being in trouble.

The crowds became less overwhelming as Dawn raced towards the North Gate, the gate that lead to Route 204 and Floaroma Town. She was less than a block from the gate when Zephyr took a sharp turn down a thin alley. Dawn tore after him only to stop dead in her tracks when she saw who was also in the alley.

Lucas and Professor Rowan were facing two of the oddest men she'd ever seen. They were wearing identical white outfits with black highlights and a giant gold G symbol in the center. Their hair was an identical shade of blue-green and styled in a bowl cut, obviously a wig. They looked like spacemen with a bad fashion sense. What was going on? Each spaceman had a Pokémon out, a Stunky and a Glameow, but didn't have any other Pokéballs that she could see. Atlas stood in front of Lucas and Professor Rowan, the twig on his head shaking due to his growling.

"Come now Professor, just tell us what we want to know, and we'll let you go," one of the spacemen said, his voice soothing. "This doesn't have to get ugly. Just give us your notes and we all go home happy, yes?"

"Your research notes are what we need," his friend piped up. "Failure to comply means we take what we need by force." Stunky and Glameow straightened at those words, their lazy postures turning into attentive eyes and flicking tails, tense and ready to pounce. Atlas' growls became louder.

"You don't want your poor assistant to get hurt, do you?" the first grunt added innocently.

"Don't you nuisances have anything better to do than harass an old man and his assistant?" Rowan yelled, his fury evident.

"Like Atlas and I are going to let you hurt the Professor!" Lucas chimed in.

The second man scoffed, "You won't have a choice little boy."

"Are you so sure of that?" All four humans and three Pokémon in the alley whipped around to see Dawn walking deeper into the alley, Zephyr on her shoulder and Crest's Pokéball in her hand, fierce smile on her face. She hoped they couldn't see her shaking hand hooked into her Trainer's belt.

The second grunt just snorted. "Great, two kids. Like that'll make any difference."

Dawn just shook her head as she took up position beside Lucas, Professor Rowan falling in behind them. "Like two wig-wearing idiots could beat us. I mean honestly, what are you? Spacemen? Fashion failures?"

"You had to make this personal! Stunky, Fury Swipes!"

"Glameow, Scratch! We'll make them regret insulting us!"

Glameow and Stunky ran forward, their claws glowing with energy and ready to attack.

"Zephyr, Quick Attack Stunky."

"Atlas, Absorb on Glameow."

Glameow and Stunky were clearly new to the concept of battle, because as soon as Zephyr took off and Atlas ran forward it was nearly over. Stunky took two hits in succession from Zephyr's Quick Attack, unable to do more than land a glancing blow on his tail feathers. The feathers floated to the ground just as Zephyr smacked Stunky's head off the tarmac with a vicious Wing Attack. Stunky fell to the ground, out cold, just as Glameow shrieked and fell over, glowing green from Atlas' Absorb. The grass type had a row of scratches on his shell, but they healed over quickly as Atlas stole the normal type's energy.

The spacemen backed up quickly as their Pokémon were beaten, recalling them with panicked expressions. "How can kids be so strong?" one of them wailed.

"This won't do… Time to retreat, the mission is a failure. Let's go!" The two recalled their Pokémon and ran off deeper into the alley.

Dawn sighed and unhooked her hand from her belt, racing heart calming down some. For all that they appeared like fashion rejects, they had been real criminals threatening her friend and his mentor. She was more than glad to see them beaten so easily.

"What is with those outlandish outfits? Kids, don't grow up to be like those sorry specimens one day," Rowan said, shaking his head as the two mystery men disappeared.

"Shouldn't we chase them?" Lucas asked.

"No my boy, it's not worth it. They're just hopeless fools who thought themselves stronger than they were. If threatening old men and children is the best they can do the police will catch them soon enough, and we would lose them quickly in a city this large if we tried to pursue. With those outlandish outfits they'll soon be caught once we report them."

"What did they want?" Dawn asked, letting Zephyr land back on her shoulder. He looked pleased with himself, already chirping to Atlas, probably about how well the battle went. Of course this would be his idea of a good time.

"They wanted the Professor's notes on Pokémon evolution and the energy it uses," Lucas told her.

"Yes, they said something about harnessing that energy for their own uses before you arrived," the Professor said. "But I do not believe that is possible. Our understanding of evolution is still woefully limited. Still, thanks to you two those idiots did not get away with my research. Thank you! You've both grown much stronger in a short amount of time. Dawn, your Starly looks impressive, I imagine that he'll evolve soon."

"I'm hoping that he'll evolve before we reach Eterna City," Dawn told him, turning around and leading them back out of the alley and towards the Pokémon Center. As they left, Dawn couldn't help but look back at where the strange men had disappeared. Something told her that encounter had not been the last she would see of them.

#

"That's it Zephyr, keep going!" A tired scream echoed from twenty feet up in the air as the Starly zoomed past, his wings pumping as fast as they could. He'd been sprint-flying nonstop for about ten minutes and looked ready to fall right out the sky.

Dawn waited until Zephyr began to lose altitude before calling "Stop! You can land and rest for a bit." The flying type all but fell out of the air, sending a puff of dust up as he skidded to a stop and flopped on the ground, wings still outstretched. He was panting hard enough to make his entire body move every time he took a breath.

"I swear, you're even more of a drama queen about this than Crest," Dawn said, walking over to sit by where Zephyr lay. A winded screech refuted her statement. Dawn eyed the feathers on his wings critically, noting how much longer and heavier they'd gotten and eyeing her Pokétch to see how long he'd managed to sprint-fly this time.

Two days down the road to Floaroma meant that Zephyr had done this exercise many times over the past few nights, but all it did was exhaust him and had no visible results. Zephyr needed to evolve before he could really make gains with his speed; his tiny wings were holding him back from the speed they both wanted and she could see his frustration growing every time he flopped on the ground like this. Time for a change of strategy.

"I know this isn't fun, but I promise it will make you faster. But for now, I have a different idea for a training exercise." That got Zephyr to look up, his beady eyes fixed on hers as his breathing slowed down.

"Ion," Dawn yelled behind her, "Can you come join us?"

Ion padded over from where he'd been practicing Spark on a fallen tree trunk. He still didn't have enough control to keep the electricity contained in his coat and claws for maximum damage, but he'd gotten to the point where he could train within a couple hundred feet of the others without shocking everyone around. That was progress in her book.

"Now, I want you two to have a quick battle. First one to hit the other wins. It's fair because you two both have only physical attacking moves at this stage, so Ion can't zap Zephyr out of the sky and Zephyr can't rain attacks on Ion from above. Ready?"

Ion and Zephyr moved to face one another, Ion crouching down in order to pounce and Zephyr dragging his tired wings off the ground and taking to the sky once again. The two eyed each other, one with his signature cool calm and calculation, the other with the joy and fury that made him who he was.

"Begin!" Zephyr predictably attacked first, diving down with a Quick Attack in order to win a quick draw. Ion was prepared for the move, jumping aside at the last minute and attempting to Tackle Zephyr as he went by. He mistimed his attack and went sliding into the ground face-first while Zephyr made a sloppy turn due to exhaustion and dove back in again.

Dawn let them go at it for a few minutes, watching their attempts to hit one another with her notebook open and pencil at the ready, occasionally writing down a quick note about something she wanted to correct or improve on.

It took them both a while to get creative. Zephyr waited until five minutes had gone by before he tried Whirlwind and Ion didn't use Flash until Zephyr got a little too close with a Wing Attack not long after. They were also having a bit of trouble timing their attacks, but nothing that couldn't be fixed with a little more battle experience.

What they weren't lacking was force. Their failure to hit one another seriously was making them try to hit harder, not smarter. Ion's electricity was beginning to get away from him, the frustration of being unable to touch the species he naturally hunted wearing at him. Zephyr too was diving in recklessly, frustrated that the advantage of wings and speed couldn't help him hit his landlocked opponent. If she didn't come up with something soon Dawn might have a real injury on her hands. It wasn't until Ion dodged one attack by diving behind a nearby tree that Dawn figured out how to solve most of their problems.

"That's it!" Ion and Zephyr paused, looking over at her. "Oh sorry, I didn't mean to stop you but it's good you stopped anyway, I want to change things up. Zephyr, Ion, we're going to play a little game." Dawn stood up and walked over to the, pointing deeper into the forest surrounding the clearing.

"Ion's going to go in with a minute head start and hide himself as best he can. Zephyr is going to go in second and try to find Ion. Same rules as before, first one to hit the other wins, but you'll have to be creative. Learn how to use sneak attacks, learn when to hit and learn how to find your enemy without letting them find you first. Learn to use your surroundings! You'll switch off whoever goes in first every round and whoever wins the most rounds at the end earns some extra berries. If you seriously hurt one another you don't get dinner, so be gentle. Ready?"

She didn't need their verbal answers. Ion's tail was flicking with interest and Zephyr already had his wings raised in preparation to take off. They exchanged a set of snarls and shrieks, no doubt a challenge. "Go!"

Ion shot off into the forest, his blue and black coat blending in with the shadowed ground in moments. A minute later Zephyr shrieked and flew ahead, his tiredness forgotten. Dawn grinned, already listening to the shrieks and screams of Ion and Zephyr honing their skills, an occasional bright flash of light or gust of wind chasing her away from the forest.

This would be good for both of them. They could get their frustration out about being stuck on their current moves and techniques while using their hunting instincts to learn to be creative and use the terrain and their moves more effectively. Once they learned long-range moves this would be good resistance and aim training. She winced when she heard the distinctive sounds of a Bidoof go flying. Well, it would if they didn't knock each other out in the next ten minutes from competitiveness.

#

"No, I'm sure it was the other way. That trail looked more worn down and the trees were growing further apart." Dawn's answer was a chirp and another pull on her pants leg courtesy of Crest's short beak.

"Fine, but don't blame me this time if we get lost and eaten by a stray carnivore." Only a few minutes later they emerged from the most recent patch of forest and Dawn saw a signpost up the road. Stopping in front of it, she read aloud "_Route 204 to Floaroma Town._" Glaring down at the far too smug water type at her feet, all she could do was refuse to acknowledge to the muffled squeaking of Ion's laughter and Zephyr's unmasked shrieks of mirth and plan more harsh training in the future. She tried to keep walking, leaving her embarrassment behind, but the flying-type decided to add to her pain by coming in for a landing on her shoulder at that precise moment, nearly knocking her over with his speed.

"You know, you're really getting too big to sit there," Dawn said. Zephyr just churred and flapped his wings, unintentionally hitting Dawn in the face and proving her point. The once tiny Starly was now over two feet tall with a wingspan to match. His talons had grown so thick that she had a few rips and tears on her left shoulder from his takeoffs and landings, newly made that morning since she repaired the jacket every night with her emergency sewing kit.

Crest piped up with a few squeaks and trills, wings flapping around and nearly causing him to fall. He might be getting better with walking on the ground for extended periods of time, but he'd need to evolve and gain longer legs in order to truly be comfortable there. As it was, he was always a step or two behind Dawn, eyes focused on the road at all times. Dawn honestly couldn't tell if it was necessary from a balance perspective or if he just needed to be sure that nothing was coming to attack them. He could just be looking out for mud puddles.

Ion was quiet as usual, tail flicking and nose twitching as he took in all the smells and sights around them. The strongest sense of the Shinx evolutionary line was their eyesight, but their noses were nothing to scoff at. Ion was wandering furthest from the small group, exploring the flowers and bushes on the side of the trail. Every once in a while, he would disappear into the foliage for a few minutes then come back out. Dawn didn't ask what he was doing in there and didn't want to know. She was bleeding her wallet dry to feed all her Pokémon (why had she gone and captured three carnivores so soon on her journey?) so she wouldn't mind them finding extra food but didn't want to know the details.

Route 204 was much different than Route 203; the winding path took the team through many cultured fields tended to by Combee and Roselia, crops like corn, grains and rice growing in huge swathes behind neat white picket fences. The only mark of where one property ended and the next began were picket fences and the small groups of trees that grew in whatever free space there was between farms. Dawn had met lots of farmers and farmhands walking along the path, many with grass or bug types at their sides. Some even rode the rare Ponyta or in one memorable case, a Rapidash. All were happy to battle with her, though Dawn and Ion were still smarting over the defeat handed to them by the trainer with the Rapidash.

The trail was curving up now, heading towards a large dark line that blocked most everything in sight. Zephyr took one look at the hill and squawked, flapping his wings and looking at Dawn like the world was about to end, eyes wide and sad.

"Oh, stop being a baby, this is far from the last time we'll find a tunnel in all of Sinnoh," Dawn admonished him. "This is the Ravaged Path, it's short and sweet. It'll only take an hour or two to walk through and it'll save us days." Zephyr was still unconvinced, screeching and taking off, soaring high into the sky as if that would stave off the impending darkness any longer.

"I do wonder why they call it the Ravaged Path though," Dawn said as they walked towards the entrance. What had looked like a dark line in the land a few miles back now showed itself to be a true cliff, cutting off the lowland sea area of Sinnoh from the higher parts of the eastern region that held Floaroma and the Eterna Forest. Only the dark hole at the base of the cliffs showed that there was a pass through the area at all.

"_Ravaged Path. Route 204 to Floaroma Town. Please beware of wild Pokémon._" Dawn read aloud before whistling to call Zephyr back down. "Come on bud, it's only for a few hours!" she pleaded. It took two berries before Zephyr was convinced to come back down to her shoulder and be recalled.

Crest looked like he was only a moment or two away from asking to be recalled himself, watching the cave mouth with distaste. But of course, that would be disgraceful, showing fear, so Dawn knew he would never ask no matter how much he clearly wanted to.

Ion nudged Crest and made his tail light up, either reminding Crest he could use the move to light their way or trying to comfort him. Probably both, Ion was remarkably good at guessing other's emotions. He'd certainly come and curled up on her lap at just the right time enough for her to be familiar with this trait of his.

Ion's tail stayed lit as they entered the cavern, cool air washing over the back of Dawn's neck and making her hair stand on end as they walked in. The roof of the tunnel was much higher than she'd anticipated; the entire tunnel felt more like a natural cave system than something carved out of the earth. The screeches of Zubat, the soft echoes of skittering sounds made by Sandshrew and other cave-dwelling Pokémon, the moving air and the occasional stalagmite or stalactite made Dawn fee like she was walking through Mt. Coronet again.

There were occasional signs of how this path had gotten its name. Huge holes and broken stones could sometimes be seen to the sides of the path, boulders with the exact contours of the holes they were torn from lying forgotten against a wall. Scratch marks and burns from energy blasts marked the cave walls and there was an eerie stillness in the places where the devastation was more prevalent.

What could have caused such destruction? Perhaps a Garchomp or one of its evolutionary line. The famous Sinnoh dragon was known to nest in caves like these; did it get into a territorial dispute? Maybe it had been powerful rock-types like the Rhyperior or Golem lines. Dawn could even imagine the long-gone Rampardos and Bastiodon lines duking it out for territory in the ancient past, no matter how unlikely. Well, those species preferred wide open spaces more anyway. The destruction was old in most places, the natural erosion caused by water dripping and Pokémon living in the caves smoothing jagged edges, but some of those blast marks looked recent…

Lost in thought, Dawn didn't notice the threat until too late.

A scuffling sound, the crash of rocks breaking apart. A huge form, tons of force and anger behind it, crashing into Dawn's unprotected body. The flare of pain and sounds of tearing skin as she was thrown against the nearby rock wall, sharp protrusions and stone cutting gashes along her arms and shoulders. Her head spun, unable to interpret the flash of colors and light and the cacophony of sound around her for several seconds.

By the time Dawn eyesight cleared enough to see again, the battle was already turning for the worse. An Exploud, huge purple body crowned with sound-emitting horns making it unmistakable, roared so loud that it made Dawn's ears feel like they should explode. For her two Pokémon, both with ears much more sensitive than hers, it left them wide open to attack.

Ion got hit by a vicious Stomp, smashing a crater into the cavern floor. It was a near miracle that the poor electric type could stand after a hit like that, but he struggled to his feet, electricity sparking over his coat and eyes colder than death. He staggered as he ran but he ran forward all the same, rushing in and Tackling Exploud's leg.

The stagger caused by the maneuver let Explode avoid Crest's stream of Bubbles. Crest squawked loudly at Ion, annoyance clear even through the language barrier. Exploud roared again, the sound forcing Dawn to cover her ears and put her head between her legs. When she looked up both of her Pokémon were struggling to rise, the Exploud using their incapacitation and disorganization to hit them with powerful normal-type moves like Take Down and Stomp.

No, no, no, no! What could she do to help? Exploud was almost on them, her head was still swimming too much to think, what could she do?

Her hand moved to her belt, a movement made natural from long weeks of walking and training with three Pokéballs on her belt. One of which had an occupant. The button clicked and a flash of red light coalesced into her flying friend, Zephyr shrieking his arrival for the world to hear.

Exploud turned, eyes narrowed and hands clenching into fists as it turned to face the source of the light and sound. Zephyr didn't give it any time to register his presence beyond that; he felt forward, smashing into Exploud with a vicious Quick Attack.

Dawn missed most of the next few seconds, head still swimming and body aching as she attempted to pry herself off the ground. Once she had herself leaning heavily against the rough cavern wall, she looked over to see Exploud's white-cloaked fist punch Zephyr's tiny form right into a wall, taking advantage of his attempt to gain altitude.

_Still have to work on that,_ Dawn's dazed mind supplied.

Crest and Ion tried to take advantage of the distraction, each preparing their strongest attacks. Crest blew out yet another stream of Bubbles, leaving nowhere for Exploud to move if it didn't want to get hit. Unfortunately, that meant that Ion smashed a couple as he ran for Exploud's tail, black energy gathering around his teeth for Bite. He shuddered but kept going.

Their efforts were for naught. Exploud swept the Bubbles away with an errant gesture, only shivering a little as it popped the Bubble surrounding it. Not much could get through that thick skin. Ion's leap for the tail doomed him as it swept around at exactly the wrong moment, throwing him to the ground.

Dawn's gasp attracted Exploud's attention. It ignored Zephyr struggling to rise near the wall, Crest's frantic Peck at its leg and Ion's errant bolts of electricity. It rushed straight for her.

Panic welled in Dawn's head and heart, pushing its way past the dizziness and throbbing headache currently occupying her mental space. Exploud ignored her Pokémon, it was coming right for her, all her Pokémon were down, _and this damn headache won't go away, I can't move itscomingwhatdoIdo-_

Bright light flashed in her peripheral vision, then grew. In half a second it was so powerful as to be blinding. Dawn threw her free hand over her eyes and tried not to collapse as the light made her headache worse. Exploud howled loudly, the sound nearly deafening but not nearly as debilitating as the brilliant glow.

Exploud's howl was replaced with a shriek a moment later, the sound of something smashing against the ground making Dawn wince. She was still unable to see well, the bright light that had now faded leaving her with spots all over her vision and the fiercest headache she'd ever had. Blinking rapidly, Dawn opened her eyes to see a new Pokémon had joined the fray.

A familiar-unfamiliar gray, brown and white bird stood on the cave floor, wings outstretched and screeching for all it was worth. A tall crest of feathers curled over its head, the beak was longer and sharper, the wings stretched out at least a foot longer. The talons were big enough to do serious damage. But Dawn knew it was Zephyr the moment she saw the gleam in his eye. No Pokémon she knew had that same insatiable lust for battle.

The newly evolved Staravia once again outlined himself with bright white light and rushed Exploud, who was just standing up after being knocked to the ground. Exploud crossed its arms in front of it and took the brunt to the Quick Attack, grunting and being pushed back a step. Zephyr's new size and evolution high made his attacks hit harder, but not hard enough to cause Exploud to fall when it wasn't surprised.

Dawn may have been dealing with the mother of all headaches and was still shaky on her feet, but she knew a losing battle when she saw one. They had to get out of here, fast. None of her Pokémon, even on an evolution high, could defeat this monster at this point in their training. Not a fully evolved three stage Pokémon.

"Time to go!" she yelled, catching their attention. "Distract and disable, then follow me!"

She didn't have the brain capacity to give detailed orders right now, no matter how much they needed it. She stumbled toward the exit of the large cave and had to hope they could deal with Exploud without her. If they could make it into the narrower part of the pass where Exploud wouldn't fit, they would make it.

Crest and Ion moved in sync this time, waiting for Zephyr to knock Exploud back a step with a blistering Quick Attack before they attacked the legs. Ion's electricity made one leg seize up while Crest's pecks to the heel made the other collapse, their twin attacks sending Exploud staggering to the floor.

Crest and Ion bolted for the exit. Ion quickly gained ground on Crest, his longer legs making escape possible. Crest tried to waddle as fast as he could, but his fast was still no better than a jog to a human. It was much slower to an Exploud, especially a furious Exploud now hauling itself up from the ground.

A pair on feet tipped with long talons hooked around Crest's blue body and lifted him up, showing the flightless bird the wonders of flight, if only for a moment. Zephyr rushed for the exit, too tired to shriek and wings flapping madly to keep the two of them in the air. He might be bigger and still on the adrenaline rush that came with evolution, but he hadn't grown enough to support Crest easily.

Exploud was gaining ground. A beam of pure energy clipped Zephyr's tail feathers as they neared the door, causing him to wobble in midair. Crest turned his head, opening his beak wide to release a cloud of shimmering Mist. The white cloud filled the gap between Exploud and the two escaping Pokémon, blocking them from view, but the loud footsteps and bellows made it clear Exploud was still in pursuit. Crest spat a cloud of Bubbles this time, the blue spheres grabbing a payload of Mist as the formed and burst through the cloud. The hidden threat made the sound of Exploud's footsteps stop for a moment. Crest trilled a triumphant call, Zephyr speeding up through use of one last Quick Attack.

They cleared the entrance of the cave, making the flying type and his passenger crash to the ground just out of reach of the narrowing entrance. Ion was already inside, having run through a moment earlier.

Dawn recalled Crest and Zephyr in a display of dexterity she hadn't thought herself capable of with her headache and limped after Ion's glowing form, heart still beating fast but slowing now that Exploud was just a roar in the cave behind them. They had made it.

#

"That's it Ion, keep it going!" The Shinx sprinted across the clearing, body spitting sparks and glowing with the light of the countless tiny lightning bolts crossing his form at irregular intervals. As he ran the sparks began to converge, the cloak of electricity growing thicker until his fur was nearly invisible beneath the sparking cloak of white-gold.

"Now attack!" Ion turned, rushing at a downed tree on the edge of the clearing. He was nothing but a gold blur by the time his little form impacted, an impressive _crack_ emanating from the tree. When Ion leapt back, electricity spent and breathing heavily, there was a large black mark on the tree trunk. Dawn could see marks indicating where the electricity had traveled, splintering lines that led about a foot away from the main black mark.

"You did it bud! Look, the electricity didn't split nearly as much and you torched the impact point" Dawn pointed out the black mark, poking it slightly and coming away with a finger coated in soot. Wiping it on her pants she turned and bent down, scratching Ion behind his overly large ears. He turned to putty at her touch, purring loudly and eyes shining with pride as he cuddled up to her.

"It sure took long enough but you've mastered Spark." It would help him out tremendously in battles, allowing him to win with power instead of waiting for an enemy to exhaust themselves. Any enemy would like to avoid a move with that much power packed into one spot, and he could take down larger or more powerful enemies that were vulnerable to electricity now. _Hmm, speaking of powerful Pokémon._

"Can you call Zephyr down here?" Dawn asked the purring electric type. Ion responded by screeching loudly. A higher-pitched shriek echoed from the sky and Zephyr swooped down from his position soaring high above them. Dawn took a moment to admire the flying type's new form.

He stood about three feet tall now, just over waist height. His large curling crest, long sharp beak and huge talons made him much more intimidating than the bird who has so often perched on her shoulder. The glint in his eyes told her he knew just how much he'd grown in his intimidation factor and how much he enjoyed it.

"You're going to fight Ion, physical moves only," she informed him. A cheerful squawk of assent and a quick flap of his wings later, Zephyr was hovering two feet above the ground, facing down his opponent. Ion crouched down, tail flicking and eyes hard, small claws releasing the occasional spark of electricity into the ground.

"Go!"

Zephyr was much faster than he had been as a Starly. He crossed the fifteen feet between himself and Ion in a blink, longer and larger wings carrying him forward. A _thump_ echoed across the clearing as Ion went soaring back. He growled in frustration and leapt at Zephyr, sparks beginning to crackle across his form, but Zephyr was long gone by the time he reached his old position.

"You've got to get it going faster Ion, or you'll never hit him!" Dawn yelled. Zephyr wasn't even using Quick Attack yet. Ion snarled and tried again, only to meet with a similar fate.

The battle went on in similar fashion for about three minutes, Ion getting battered by his larger teammate while Zephyr danced rings around the slower, land-locked fighter. Whenever someone said a flying type would always lose to an electric type Dawn would tell them this story. Or better yet, let Zephyr show them the error of their ways.

Ion's frustration got the better of him. He yowled in anger, releasing all his pent-up electricity in a burst as he missed Zephyr yet again. The errant lighting made Dawn shield her eyes and back up, but it also made Zephyr swerve, getting a little too near the ground.

Ion was on him in an instant, the chance to hit making him build his electricity back up faster than ever before. It wasn't a full-power Spark he hit Zephyr with, but the shaky flight pattern and slight burn marks told Dawn it hadn't felt good in the slightest.

"Good job Ion!" Dawn's voice made Ion preen in pride, but his eyes never left Zephyr. He'd gotten one hit in, but mostly by luck. Every hit made him the least little bit better, so it was time to try for round two.

Dawn left them to it, heading back towards the fire where Crest was waiting. He was poking at the feathers of his wings with his beak, done with his training for the day. She made him stop early these last few days so he could finally finish replenishing his water supply and not blowing it on futile work on Bubblebeam. Once they were back to full, she had a couple of ideas she wanted to try out. Their battle with Exploud and witnessing his Bubbles catching some of the Mist had given her a fun idea for a combination move.

A tug on her pants leg brought her out of her thoughts and directed her attention back to Crest. "Right, thanks buddy." He went back to preening, unintentionally reminding her something. She bent down and rummaged in her bag for a moment, emerging with a small comb and a bottle of oil. Time to try out a different new idea.

Sitting down cross-legged next to the fire, Dawn beckoned to Crest. "Come here for a minute bud, I want to try something." Crest cocked his head to the side in confusion but did as she asked. A quick twirl of her finger made him turn around and Dawn bent down to inspect his coat. Just as she'd expected, there were a few places on his back where the feathers were ruffled, the barbs caught on dirt or on other feathers, in some places flaking away due to lack of care. Crest couldn't care for the feathers he couldn't reach after all.

"I'm going to try to help you get these hard-to-reach places," Dawn said, keeping her hands carefully in his range of vision. "If anything hurts or feels wrong, just turn around or tap me and I'll stop, okay? I don't want you to feel uncomfortable." From what she'd read, preening was a deeply communal activity for Piplup. Their intense pride meant that they only allowed others to help groom them if they truly trusted one another. A well-groomed Piplup was something of a rarity for this reason; only Piplup living with their parents tended to have the trust in another necessary for communal preening. She could only hope that this would help them bond even further, if Crest allowed her to help him at all.

Crest's body was stiff, his nod hesitant, but it was there all the same. She used a little of the specially made oil to wet the soft comb, then went to work, cleaning out any dirt and smoothing barbs and feathers one by one, coating them with the oil in order to help waterproof them. A preened Piplup would be a much better swimmer than one forced to rely only on its own beak.

Crest was utterly still when she first began. She could feel the tiny flinches and hesitation every time she moved from one feather to the next. But as she moved from one spot to another, she could feel him relaxing, body unclenching like fingers loosening from a fist. By the time she reached the last spot, Crest was paying her no attention at all, instead using his beak to preen his wing feathers while she worked on his back.

A squawk to her left made Dawn look over, having to move her head slightly around Crest. At some point he'd transitioned from standing in front of her to sitting in her lap. Zephyr and Ion both stood there, fur and feathers ruffled and marked with small scratches and burn marks. Both were giving her a remarkably close impression of the Baby-Doll Eyes move.

"Alright, alright, you two can have a turn too. Just let me finish up here…" Dawn turned back to Crest, picking up the comb again and starting on the last patch of feathers. She had a feeling this would turn into a nightly routine. Now, time to find out how to brush an electric type without getting shocked…

#

"See up there, the line of three bright stars? That's Zacian's Sword, you can see it from just about anywhere north of Hoenn." Dawn's finger pointed straight up at the inky sky dotted with tiny glimmering lights above. Her three Pokémon follower her gaze from where they lay on their backs in the grass beside her, looking up at the universe above.

"If you look closely you can see an arrangement of seven stars beside those three bright ones, to the left. They form a triangle, do you see?" Three noises of assent greeted her a moment later. "That's Zamazenta's Shield. Apparently, they're a pair of canine Pokémon that defend the Galar region…" Dawn's voice trailed off, eyes darting between the myriad of stars above her head before an inquisitive cheep drew her attention to Crest.

"Oh, Galar? I don't know much about it, the region only just joined the League Alliance. They're far to the west and a little south, but that means they can see these two constellations for a lot of the year. One day I'd like to find out more about Zacian and Zamazenta…"

Dawn's finger pointed up again, pointing at a cluster of stars further down nearer the treelike this time. "See down there where the stars form a little circle? That's Cresselia's Dreamcatcher. She keeps Darkrai, the Hunter of Souls, trapped so that it can't enter your dreams in the form of nightmares, searching for your soul to sate his hunger. If you look closely, there's a nebula there that you can see with the naked eye; it looks like a smudge. It's supposed to be the anger of Darkrai manifested, or its actual body no one's really sure."

Ion snuggled in closer to her side, body devoid of any electricity in an attempt to keep her from harm. His control kept on getting better. Now that Spark was complete, they could start on a long-range move. He didn't have the stature he needed to be a physical threat to anything too large or powerful and he had no way to catch a flier, so he needed something with range to be a true threat on the battlefield.

Speaking of flying type threats… "Do you see those bright stars up there, to the right of Crest? That's Moltres the Avenger, who paints the sky with the fires of sunset and sunrise and razes cities to the ground in his wrath. Would you like to hear the story of the time Moltres destroyed the Empire of the Sun?"

Zephyr's chirp was the loudest of all, overpowering Ion's squeak and Crest's squawk. Clearly the idea of hearing about the conquests of the great firebird of legend, a flying type just like him, was exciting on many levels. Dawn didn't doubt that he was planning to defeat it someday.

Settling her head back into the grass Dawn began to tell the story, her eyes wandering through the uncounted stars of the heavens as she spoke. "Long, long ago, the Legends roamed the world openly and the people enjoyed their favor. Solgaleo the Unconquered, the Mighty Sun, was the patron Legend of the Alolan Islands. The people formed a mighty empire under Solgaleo's burning gaze, for the sun shone warmly on Alola and allowed crops to grow and people and Pokémon to thrive. But to all who threatened their borders, the sun was as fierce and unforgiving as in the harshest desert."

"There came a king of Alola who was unsatisfied with their peaceful lives and bountiful harvests. He wanted all to bow before the him for he saw Alola as superior to all others, for no one else was blessed by the grace of the Sun and protected by the lesser Legends, their Island Guardians. The king began a great campaign, delighted to find that the blessing of Solgaleo followed their warriors across the seas as they took island after island, land after land for the growing kingdom. With each land they took the king grew greedier, declaring Alola the center of the Empire of the Sun."

"Soon the tyrannical Empire of the Sun extended all the way to Hoenn, reaching an inexorable hand towards the Orange Islands. The people of those islands lived near a trio of uninhabited islands, one of which held a great volcano where it was rumored the Firebird slept. The heat of the volcano and the soil left over from countless eruptions made their land beautiful and wealthy, but it would not remain so for long. The Empire attacked, burning all who stood against them and destroying the beauty and peace of the Orange Islands."

"But in their greed, they awoke what should not have been awakened. The Firebird rose from its place in the depths of the earth, rising to greet the sun for the first time in millennia. It rose to find the Sun had destroyed the land it held dear. In its rage the Firebird painted the skies red with the burning bodies of the Empire's soldiers. Ash, smoke, stone and endless waves of fire and lava poured from the volcano, hiding the sun from sight. The Firebird glowed bright enough to light the world, bringing forth a wave of flame that burned all who had destroyed the land it held dear until they were no more than ash in the breeze."

"It is said that Solgaleo descended from the heavens to stop the Firebird before the raging flames stretched beyond the Orange Islands. In return for forgiveness Solgaleo made the Firebird his herald, painting the sky of dawn and dusk with fire so as to remind mortals of the beauty of the sun and its terrible power, so that it would never be misused again. The remnants of the Empire faded back into the Alolan islands and the people of the Orange Islands named their savior Moltres, the Firebird, the Avenger. Moltres' flies above us all in the stars, reminding us of the dangers of the pursuit of power, that we must never take more than we should."

They were silent for a time after the story, watching the stars twinkle and letting the story settle in their minds, like a memory long forgotten now rising to the surface.

"Do you see those stars over there? There's an especially bright one in the middle and a ring of stars around it. If you connect all of them with lines, it looks like a flower." Dawn's Pokémon indicated their assent with the chorus of chirps and squeals.

"That's the Lily of the Valley. Sinnoh's national constellation, the one named after our First Champion. Would you like to hear the story?" She had hardly finished her sentence before the chorus of squeaks and squeals started.

"A thousand years ago, the sky fell upon this mortal world. A star fell from its place in the heavens, burning the sky on its way to decimate the world below. The dreams of the Original One were disturbed by the calamity about to befall its creation. A portion of its power manifested to shield the world. Even the dreams of the Original One were powerful, but the falling star was too strong. The Fragment placed itself between the world and the star, stopping the calamity at the cost of its body. The star shattered into pieces, falling to earth like rain around the broken body of the Fragment."

"A man, brave but foolish, dared approach the fallen god. He approached, and the Fragment spoke to him, asking him to return what was lost. The man gathered the plates that had fallen around the god, returning them to the Fragment. Its essence returned, the Fragment healed and was grateful. The god offered its savior a wish in return for his help."

"The man wished for the barren wasteland to become green and growing, so that people and Pokémon might live there together in harmony, enjoying the world the Original One had created. The Fragment approved, splitting off five parts of itself, the Plates, forged from the essences of Creation. From the Plates of Grass, Water, Earth, Electricity and Dragon, the Jewel of Life came to be. Wherever the Jewel went, the earth flourished. But the Jewel carried terrible power: if it fell into the wrong hands, Creation could fall out of balance. The man swore to use it only for good, and to protect it for all time. The Fragment faded back into the dreams of the Original One, leaving the man with the Jewel of Life."

"For many years, the valley was green and gold and all life flourished. The Jewel of Life brought untold prosperity to what had once been a wasteland, calling many people and Pokémon to move there and make it their home. The man built a castle upon the remains of the fallen star, housing the precious jewel in the highest tower. But the hearts of men are easily corrupted, and a promise made with a pure heart was broken before a decade had passed."

"The man had a partner, a brother in all but blood who helped him build a great nation in the valley. This partner became jealous of the power the Jewel of Life afforded the man, asking to see the Jewel for himself. The man refused, citing the promise he had made to the Fragment. But every day for years on end, the partner asked and wheedled and made sure the man understood just how much he could help the valley if only he could see the Jewel. After five years had gone by, the man finally allowed his friend to see the Jewel in all its splendor. And every day for the next five years the friend returned to see the Jewel, walking up to the tower alone."

"Then the day came that ten years had passed since the man was given the Jewel of Life. On the day when the Beast that devours the Sun finally caught his prey, an earthquake tore the land apart, fire burst from the ground and all the green and gold of the valley withered. The man rushed to the tower, afraid that the Jewel of Life would be gone, only to find his partner standing in the tower. Instead of the beautiful green jewel he had received many years ago, the friend held a black gem that pulsed with sickening light, drawing in the light around it as if trying to consume the world. "What have you done?" cried the man, distraught at the betrayal of his friend."

"'I have done what you wished you could,' his friend replied, his corrupted eyes darker than coal. 'I have taken the power of the Original One for myself, so that I may use it as I please. You have made this valley beautiful, but I shall make a new world, by devouring the old.' The Devourer turned on his friend, the man who had earned the Jewel of Life from a fragment of the Original One, eating his life force until nothing remained."

"The Devourer raised an army powered by the souls of living beings and sent them out across the land of Sinnoh, crushing all in their path and devouring all life they came across to fuel their master's need for power. The western region of Sinnoh fell quickly to the overwhelming power of the corrupted Jewel of Life, and all of eastern Sinnoh trembled as the boots of the approaching army echoed from the caves and passes of Mt. Coronet."

Dawn paused here, a silence that stretched on for an endless moment before she continued:

"But all hope was not lost, for on an island covered with flowers, a little girl was born."

"On an island far to the east, away from the mainland that was slowly being crushed under the heel of a madman, a little girl played in the flowers with the Pokémon she loved. Her clan was large, and they loved her, but as she grew older, she watched more and more of her friends and family take up arms and leave, sailing over the churning sea to join the battles raging on the mainland. Far too soon, the girl's own father was sent away to fight, the great dragon that stood beside him promising to the girl that her father would return. The only piece of her father that the girl ever saw again was a single lock of his hair, twisted around a burned scale, sent back home in a small box."

"The girl was forbidden to fight. She was too young, they said, her partner a tiny Budew barely grown from hatching. But the girl knew she could not stand by. So she went to the clan's great hall, and began to read the books they kept there, seeking a way to end the war that had taken so much from her, from all of Sinnoh. The war had reached the coast by the time she found her answer."

"The girl asked for the help of the water Pokémon to sneak her past the army building boats on the shores of the mainland, sailing from her island up the coast under the cover of night with Roselia at her side and the water Pokémon pushing her boat from below. Only the power of her conviction and the stalwart aid of her Pokémon allies kept the girl going as the water turned from the warm coastal waters to the icy sludge of the north, and her partner began to shiver even in the sun. The water Pokémon slipped away, leaving the girl to what little mercy the frozen northern reaches of the world could provide."

"Abandoning the boat that had been her home for months, the girl pressed onto the land, climbing mountains and exploring tunnels, learning to fight and survive and thrive even in the worst conditions with Roselia at her side. The frozen power of the north and the ice dwelling in the souls of the Pokémon could not deter her and Roselia, not when the fire of hope in their hearts spurred them onwards as their destination grew near. Following maps older than her great-grandparents, the girl found the great mirror of the North: Lake Acuity, the Lake of Clear Sight."

"The Lake was clear and clean, with no sign of the corruption that had touched all living things as the corrupted Jewel of Life spread its poisoned tendrils throughout Sinnoh. As the girl stepped closer, an island appeared in the middle of the lake where before there was no island at all. In the middle of the island there was a cave, leading deep into the heart of the earth. The girl and her partner sailed to the island, the ember of hope that her books had lit in her heart growing until it was a bonfire. Deep into the depths of the earth they walked, until they reached a cavern glowing with light that came from nowhere. In the middle of the cave a figure waited."

"The Bringer of Knowledge, Uxie, waited for her."

"No one knows what happened in that cavern exactly. Only the girl and her partner knew, and from that day they refused to speak of it. But the girl entered that cavern as a girl from an insignificant island to the east, one who had lost too much to war and traveled far in order to find the smallest spark of hope for her people. When she left, she was so much more."

"When she left the cavern to stand in Solgaleo's light once again, she was Lily, Champion of Uxie, soon to be the Savior of Sinnoh."

"Sinnoh was a dark and ruined land, all life subjugated or devoured by the greed of one man. The Devourer believed he had won, laughing from his tower in the castle he built atop the holy peak of Mt. Coronet, gathering power from the land and its people in order to commit his final sin and destroy the world he once revered. But from the ruined land, pockets of resistance began to rise. Slaves working in the pits broke their chains and fled, patrols exploring the wild lands to the north vanished without a trace, and the people who hid in their homes from the terrible servants of the Devourer began to whisper of a growing rebellion, and the Lily who led it."

"The Devourer was enraged as the whispers began to grow, reaching even his ears as entire towns began to rise up in rebellion. He sent his power flowing from the corrupted Jewel, but to his surprise another power began to beat it back: the light of knowledge, the hope that all was not yet lost. That light led people and Pokémon to one another, instead of tearing them apart. That light led the lost and the broken to the hidden places where they could rest, where a Lily and a Roserade walked among the refugees to heal their wounds and teach them to fight against the evil."

"The Devourer could not stand the thought that another could challenge the power he held. He gathered his armies, men and Pokémon thousands strong subjugated by his dark power, and marched them north, burning the land under their feet to be sure that all the power of Life was the Devourer's. The Devourer expected resistance, but he did not expect the wild itself to rebel."

"The landscape of Sinnoh itself rose to stop the Devourer as the Pokémon exerted their power to stymie the dread army at every turn, allowing the resistance to grow and organize. When the exhausted army of the Devourer finally emerged from the caverns of Mt. Coronet, they found an army thousands strong to greet them, Lily herself standing at their head with Roserade by her side. Her light and wisdom inspired all who came close, and those corrupted by the Devourer who touched her found themselves cleansed by the power of Uxie. The resistance, the League, pushed back the army of the Devourer, freeing Sinnoh with every step closer they took to the stronghold on Mt. Coronet."

"As the resistance approached his stronghold high upon the slopes of the holy mountain the Devourer began to feel real fear in his heart for the first time in many years. The Devourer could not bear to see his empire fall, so he conquered the last of his fear of the Legends and headed for the gate to the peak. "

"After two years of fighting, the final battle took place before that holy place, before the sealed gate leading to the beginning of all, the place where the Original One created the world. If he could break the seal and enter bearing the corrupted power of the Jewel of Life, nothing would stop him. So Lily came for the final battle."

"On that snow covered peak before the towering gate the Devourer faced the Champion of Uxie, the ones the legends name the Lily of the Valley, for the first and final time."

"Their battle was so great it was said that no snow remained on the mountain when the battle was over, the clashing of their power tearing down the castle of the Devourer and carving great furrows into the earth. The Devourer with the Jewel of Life and the corrupted power of all his victims flowing through him, the Lily of the Valley glowing with the knowledge and power of Uxie and Roserade by her side, their teamwork faultless. It is said that as the battle drew on Uxie itself came to aid the Champion, lending its might to contest the corrupted power of the Original One."

"In the end, light will always overcome darkness, for shadow only exists where no light reaches. The Lily summoned the light of knowledge and love, so bright it outshone the sun, to cleanse the Devourer from the earth once and for all. The Devourer, knowing all hope was lost, thrust the Jewel of Life in front of himself in an attempt to block the blow. Uxie's power cleansed all corruption from the gem in an instant, but the power was too much for the Jewel and it shattered into a thousand pieces. So too did the Devourer, for in attempting to eat the world, he had lost his own soul to the corruption he placed inside the Jewel."

"The Lily stood victorious before the gate, stained with her own blood and that of her partner as her army cheered for their salvation, the enemies losing all will to fight as the corruption left the hearts of many and others saw their leader defeated. There atop the holy mountain the Lily declared that humankind and Pokémon must live together in peace, joining their strength together to form a nation that gave to one another instead of took. She declared that their League would live on, learning from the light of knowledge that all beings hold within themselves. On Mt. Coronet, the Lily of the Valley declared the League that would take her name, would be established on the island that was her childhood home, and thus created the world we know today. The Lily of the Valley, Champion-hero of Uxie, would become the leader and first Champion of the Pokémon League of Sinnoh."

Silence stretched long into the night, but Dawn gathered her Pokémon in her arms and stared up at the endless heavens.

"One day we'll be there. One day, we'll be legends, bringing peace and prosperity to Sinnoh as the strongest in the land."

Her voice was no louder than a whisper but no less strong for it. "I swear it."

#

Dawn knew she was near Floaroma hours before she arrived. The smell of flowers was so strong Ion was sneezing for an hour before the first flower fields came into sight and only half an hour after he started sneezing Dawn wanted to do the same. The smell of roses and gardenias, jasmine, pine, mint, and of course their famous lily of the valley wafted along on the breeze, pleasurable for about five minutes then growing so strong it stung Dawn's nostrils every time she breathed in. She almost envied Zephyr and Crest their weak senses of smell.

Flowers dotted every field they passed in a riot of color, from white to blue to brightest red and orange. After days of nothing but waving grasses it was a pretty sight, but Dawn's aching feet just wanted to reach Floaroma as fast as possible.

Pachirisu and Bidoof ran though the fields, screeching and running off as fast as they could when Zephyr descended from the heavens to take them on. He had his fun with the Bidoof, much as Dawn tried to stop him, but after the second Pachirisu left him with scorched feathers and wobbly flight he left them alone. Ion would occasionally send sparks skittering along the ground in an attempt to talk to the other electric types. He didn't often get a response, but he spent a while playing tag with a particularly rambunctious Pachirisu in the flower fields. It made Dawn's heart swell with pride when she saw him outrun the speedy electric type with ease, his hours of training shining though.

The road became crowded as the team got closer and closer to the flower-strewn gates in the distance. What had been a steady trickle of passerby became a gushing river, so many people walking in and out of the flower-covered wooden gates that Dawn was soon forced to walk on the edges of the dirt path, Ion and Zephyr recalled to their Pokéballs while Dawn scooped Crest up in her arms. There wasn't enough room for him to walk but he refused to go back in his ball, watching the passerby with suspicion and looking around at the riot of colorful flowers.

What was going on? Floaroma was a tiny town, a stopover just before the Eterna Forest where trainers could rest and view their famous flower fields before braving the tangle of dark trees and unknown paths ahead. She'd always thought it would be a quiet place. Instead she was pushing past what had to be hundreds of people. If too many more came though she'd be reminded of Jubilife City instead of Sandgem Town.

There were two police officers standing on either side of the gate, each one holding a clicker and counting the number of people entering and exiting the gates. Dawn stopped and stepped off to the side before entering town, asking the nearby officer, "What's going on? I thought this was supposed to be a small, quiet town."

"Trainer are you?" the officer asked rhetorically, glancing at the Piplup in her arms. "Figures you wouldn't know, you all never keep track of the days or the news." Dawn frowned but the man kept going, "Tomorrow's the first day of Floaroma's famous Shaymin Festival. We do a huge celebration of Shaymin the Purifier as well as grass-type Pokémon in general. Rituals and prayer in the morning, a good ol' fashioned celebration in the afternoon. We're gonna have a grass-type catching contest at some point as well. Trainers have been flooding in for the contest and everyone else is here for the festivities. It's our biggest event of the year, so you've got good timing."

Dawn barely heard anything after the words "grass-type catching contest" were spoken. What a chance! Catching contests normally had rare and unusual Pokémon added in order to make it more interesting and Dawn needed a grass type. After the weeks of training with Ion, Zephyr and Crest, she was sure they had bonded enough as a team. Adding a new member wouldn't throw them off significantly and even just learning more about grass types would be valuable before her gym battle in Eterna.

"Thank you," she said, already walking through the gate in a distracted haze with not even a glance back towards the officer. If she had glanced back, she might have noticed the man's covert glance toward his partner. She would have been too far away to notice the quick nod, or the second clicker the officer took out of his pocket, adding one to the tally before slipping it away in a back pocket and turning to face the tourists again.

**#**

**This chapter was a beast to write and edit, but here it is! I hope you enjoyed it. I love getting to worldbuild by writing mythology and history, so expect more fun stories like the story of the First Champion or Moltres the Avenger in the future. Thanks for reading, see you next time!**


	5. Flower Festival Fun

Chapter 5: Flower Festival Fun

Floaroma was bursting at the seams trying to hold all the people flooding its streets. The many Pokémon darting and the overflowing cheer of the crowd didn't help matters, making sure that everyone was moving and spreading out too much for the town to hold them all. The crush of people crowding the flower-strewn fields were daunting, but the happy shouts, garlands lining the fences and outsides of the houses and shops and generally celebratory atmosphere conjured a smile on Dawn's face as she walked out of the Pokémon Center. The flood of people was moving slowly north towards the main flower fields, following a path to the place Nurse Joy had called the Flower Paradise when Dawn asked about the ceremony last night.

Ion strode along at Dawn's side. Crest seemed ill at ease with all the people and grass types, unwilling to brave the crowd for the second day in a row. Ion was small enough to pick up and wasn't likely to pick a fight, unlike Zephyr, so he would accompany her today.

The buzz of the crowd died as they moved further and further from town, the small but brightly painted buildings fading into the distance as they were pushed along by the crowd. A reverent silence descended on the crowd as their destination loomed in the distance: a long, sloping hill-island in the middle of the river, connected to the land by a swaying wood-and-rope bridge. At the top of the hill Dawn could just make out a small building, decorated with colorful flowers and painted in gold and green. A trio of figures in white stood at the base of the hill but approached no closer to the shrine. None of the visitors crossed the bridge at all, instead falling to their knees with their eyes shut as they approached as close to the river as possible. A few people dipped their hands in the water, a purifying ritual.

Dawn settled in behind the last line and knelt, soft dirt staining her worn pants as Ion settle down beside her and her eyes closed. She was expecting the silence to be disquieting; she'd always thought the shrine at Sandgem Town was eerie, too silent, too still, hidden and set apart from the happy little town full of the song of the waves and the sounds of Pokémon playing around Professor Rowan's lab and attached ranch. Here the silence allowed her to enjoy the sounds of the trees rustling in the light wind, the water of the river rushing by, even Ion's light breathing from where he sat beside her. Far away she thought she could hear the screech of a flying type soaring among the clouds.

Her quiet reverie was broken by the sound of a bell tolling. Once, twice, three times the bell tolled before falling silent. There was no noise but the chirping of flying-types in the trees and the soft sigh of the breeze. The trio in white at the base of the island turned, facing the shrine atop the hill and bowing, each dipping their hands into the flowing river before straightening and walking up the hill. Two stopped on either side of the shrine and turned to face the crowd while the last approached the shrine, bowing once again before turning to face the gathered worshippers.

"Welcome one and all to the Ceremony of Gratitude, held in honor of Shaymin the Purifier who cleans the world of poison and hatred. To Shaymin we give our thanks!"

"To Shaymin we give our thanks!" spoke the crowd, hundreds of voices forming one cohesive whole.

"I shall tell you the story of Shaymin so that we may understand the gifts of the Legends and celebrate their workings." The priest opened his hands wide, a smile growing on his face like any good storyteller with a grand tale to spread.

"Ages ago, when the Sun and Moon were new in the sky and the stars freshly shattered, men and Pokémon fought endlessly. Men believed themselves superior and Pokémon could not abide by their selfish ways. In the course of ever-flowing time, men and Pokémon encountered each other in a place where flowers grew in abundance and the water was always fresh and cool as it flowed down from the mountain heights. War broke out over this untouched land and all the flowers were seared away by fires, the trees cut away for the terrible swords and machines of men, the ground itself torn apart to leave great cracks in the land."

"In the ashes that remained when the armies moved on, a single grass type appeared. She was saddened to see what had become of the land that was once so bountiful and colorful but so happy to have lived through the conflict that countless others had not. In gratitude for her survival and in hopes of bringing back that which once was, the nameless grass-type attempted to restore the land to what it had been. She tried to clean the rivers from the poisons that leaked in, to plant seeds in the ground cut to pieces by attacks and sodden with ash and blood, to save the beautiful flowers growing in the once-beautiful land."

"But the land was too far gone, too poisoned to be saved even by the ministrations of the dedicated. No matter what she tried, no matter how much power she poured into the earth, the land refused to grow so much as a a single green sprout. It was then, looking out over blackened fields, that she knew what she had to do. The nameless one knelt and drew the poisons of the earth into her own body, storing it in her seeds so that the earth could once again live and grow."

"When she had walked over the extent of the destruction, when no more poison lived within the land and huge forests and bountiful flowers grew as far as the eye could see, the nameless one came here, to this island, and looked out over the land she had given up so much to save. She looked out over the fruits of her labors and said, 'I am grateful.' The nameless grass-type passed away there, full of the poisons of war that she had drawn from the earth."

"There she lay for many days, watching over the land she loved, until from the North a great Light came. Xerneas the Healer came to see this new land that burst with life. When the Legend asked the Pokémon living in the fields and forests how this beautiful place came to be, they pointed to the island and praised the nameless one who died to save the land. The Healer came to the place where she lay and looked down upon her body, untouched by the rot of death or poison."

"'Rise, Purifier, and see the land that you saved. Live again to purify that which has been tainted.' And so Shaymin the Purifier rose from the ashes of the nameless grass type, reborn as the spirit of gratitude, of purity and fertility. Where she walks, the earth and water become pure as the first day of Creation. Where she flies above, watching over the land she loves, the skies become clean and clear. To this day, a grove of Gracidea flowers blooms where Shaymin fell, here upon her holy island, as a sign that she watches over her homeland still."

"To Shaymin we give thanks!"

"To Shaymin we give thanks," Dawn said, a single voice among the hundreds gathered, indistinguishable among the outpouring of gratitude but contributing nonetheless. Looking out over the flowing water, the gathered worshippers now beginning to chant prayers, the sounds of the wind and the flowers blowing in the breeze, Dawn could only feel awe for the power that had created this paradise, and pity for the ones who had destroyed it in the first place.

#

While the Flower Paradise was a place of serenity and gratitude for the wonder and purity of nature, Floaroma Town was a wild party celebrating life. Tables filled with more foods and berries than Dawn could name lined the fields, people of all ages and sizes snatching snacks from their surfaces. Pokémon of all types, but primarily grass and bug types walked, ran, flew and scuttled between the gathered humans, catching crumbs or snatching their own food from the tables, their cries ringing out over the laughter and chatter of their human companions. In a somewhat clear spot by the river, a group of women dressed in what Dawn guessed was traditional Floaroma garb: long green robes with ivy and flower designs, intricate flower crowns woven into their hair and beautiful bouquets in their hands. They were dancing to the music of a band set up nearby, an upbeat, lively tune that set many people's feet to tapping. Various Pokémon danced alongside their masters, weaving in between the stomping feet and jumping into the air when the music peaked.

In the town streets stalls were set up, selling flower bouquets, traditional crafts, Pokémon apparel, whatever would entice a visitor to their storefront. The huge Floroma Flower Shop was doing brisk business, the line for service stretching down all the way to the gates of town. More performers had set up a small stage at the back of the main flower field, doing something that involved juggling and a few too many explosions for Dawn to feel comfortable, especially with all the flammable materials around. Everyone here was wearing at least a few flowers somewhere, and most had gone all out decorating their bodies with the riotous bulbs. She saw one Roselia that looked more like a flower bush than a real Pokémon, and its Trainer wasn't much better.

It was all too much for Dawn. Only a few minutes into town and she was already trying to find a quiet place to hide. Ion had been recalled almost immediately after seeing the size of the crowd. After spending so much time in the wilderness, just her and her Pokémon, she'd almost forgotten this feeling. How could people like this? She was constantly pushing past others, the music was too loud, the smell of the flowers too strong, she felt crowded from all sides, there was too much too close and they wouldn't go away-

"You look like you could use some space," a low, musical voice said in her ear. Dawn nearly jumped a foot in the air, only stopped by the fact that she was being moved by the crowd more than she was moving herself. The next moment she felt a firm grip on her hand that pulled her towards the edges of the crowd, somehow making enough space in the cacophony to pull them to the edge. A minute of nothing but humans then she was standing near the treeline, a tall man in green clothing holding her hand and looking at her with a kind expression.

"Pardon my presumption miss, but you looked like you could use a little help," the man said, withdrawing his hand from hers and bowing low in an almost courtly fashion.

Now that Dawn finally had her breath back (when had she begun breathing so hard?) she took a good look at her rescuer. He wore a large hat and cloak of the same dark green color, allowing him to nearly blend into the curtain of pines behind him. His dark blue eyes and long, dark hair gave him a soulful look that matched the golden harp in his hands quite well. He looked like a bard taken from the pages of her books back at home and for a second Dawn wondered if she had stepped back in time. It wasn't unheard of in parts of Sinnoh for strange rips in the space-time continuum to appear.

"No, th-thank you for pulling me out sir," Dawn replied, stumbling over her words a little. She looked back at the crowd in an attempt to hide her growing blush. "All that was a little…much."

"I enjoy the energy of the crowd, but I agree that too many people can be stifling. But where are my manners? My name is Nando Naoshi, it's a pleasure to meet you." Nando extended a hand and Dawn took it, noting the calluses present. He was clearly someone who worked with his hands.

"I'm Dawn Hikari, a traveling Trainer."

"Another trainer, how wonderful! I too enjoy training Pokémon, though I consider myself something of a minstrel as well. My Pokémon and I travel the land, learning from one another and spreading the joy of music to all. Oh, but the beauty and strength of a Pokémon battle!" His fingers drew elegantly across the strings of his harp, teasing a rising series of chords from the instrument.

"Are you here for the grass-type catching contest then?" Dawn asked, her embarrassment and claustrophobia beginning to fade at the dual distractions of training and meeting a new friend.

"Indeed! The beauty of Floaroma Town is well known across this land and as I heard of the famous Shaymin Festival I thought it sounded like an excellent place to acquire a new team member and find inspiration for my songs and performances."

"Performances? Are you a Contest trainer?" Dawn could see it; with that handsome face, self-confidence and musical skills he could draw a crowd even if his Pokémon were lackluster. In a Contest setting with well-trained Pokémon he would likely rise up the ranks fast.

Nando considered her with a contemplative smile, replying, "I have considered long and hard if I should choose the path of beauty in Contests or the path of strength through the Gym Challenge, but sadly I have not yet arrived at a decision." He sighed deeply, the long fingers of his right hand disappearing into the folds of his cloak to finger something near his belt line. Just from the way he moved Dawn could tell her was touching his Pokéballs. She did the same thing when she was thinking hard.

"Why do you want to go into each one?" Dawn asked, sitting down at the base of a large pine tree nearby. She sure didn't want to dive into the crush of people anytime soon and helping her new friend out was far from the worst way to spend her time.

Nando took a seat beside her, cloak flaring out over the grass. "I enjoy the ability of Contests to reveal the beauty of my Pokémon and highlight their talents. The dance of precision and beauty, spectacle and control, is a glorious one. But in battle the true nature of the trainer and the Pokémon is revealed, the strength of our bonds, our bodies and our minds are tested and pushed to their limits, making us grow ever stronger and ever closer. How could I choose between them?" Another sigh, deeper and longer this time. His fingers picked out a new melody on the harp, something slow that became quieter with each note.

"Why choose?" It slipped out. She hadn't meant to say it but out it came, and she was already regretting it.

"What do you mean?"

"Well… most big cities in Sinnoh have a Contest Hall and a Gym. You could train your Pokémon to do both or have some specialize in one type and some in another. You could go to towns for Contests and challenge the Gyms while you're there." Dawn hated suggesting it. She'd read about so many people trying and failing to do just that. It felt like setting him up for failure. But if Nando really couldn't choose, it was the obvious third road. "It might even be helpful, crossing over like that. Your Pokémon would have to learn precise control and battle strengths, so they'd be well rounded. It might be hard to get started though, it would take a while to gain both in the necessary amounts since you can't start off specializing in one or the other."

"Hmm… An interesting thought. I have considered it in the past but always thought that specializing would do me better. But perhaps… if you truly think it can be done…"

"It'll be hard," Dawn warned. "It takes a truly great trainer to pull it off, but if you can do it, you'll be among great company. Trainers like Wallace, the Sootopolis City Gym Leader and Top Coordinator in Hoenn for example."

"The challenge is part of the allure! All the best songs come from stories of triumph over impossible odds, learning from mistakes and rising up to the challenge!" He strummed his hands over his harp again, playing a rising crescendo of notes. After a moment the fingers began to pluck out a new song, something lower and softer, a long, slow melody. "It seems only fitting that I decide which path to take by challenging myself. I shall find a way to challenge myself and my beliefs, choosing which path to take based on what I learn. Is this not the way of all trainers, no matter how we train or occupy ourselves?" The notes picked up speed once again. "Now, to determine a challenge… Would you be willing to battle me?"

"I would, but I don't think we have enough space at the moment," Dawn observed, watching the crowd continue to swell. Even in the time they'd been talking she swore the size of the crowd had doubled. "But I'm willing to in the future. But one problem: is straight battling really a good way to decide between two fields, one of which _is_ straight battling?"

"You may have a point…" He fell silent, and for a time they watched people and Pokémon walk past, enjoying the music, laughter and general air of celebration while staying comfortably apart from the hectic crowd.

"I believe I have arrived at a conclusion," Nando said at last. "The Floaroma Grass-Type Catching Contest will be held tomorrow. I have heard that they intend to release many rare grass types into the woods and fields for all participating trainers to try to catch. All trainers have an hour to catch a Pokémon and return. Whoever has the rarest Pokémon or strongest Pokémon will win the contest, which means they earn an additional prize. I will enter the contest and track down a Pokémon to add to my team. I believe that the kind of Pokémon I choose to track down will tell me more about what I prize and want to focus on in my training. If I track down a Pokémon for its strength, I shall pursue my love of battle. If I track down a Pokémon for its beauty and grace, I will pursue Contests. Of course, I shall challenge myself by attempting to win the contest. Does this seem like a good course of action?"

"I think that sounds perfect. Though you might have to give up on your dream of winning the contest; I'll be winning this one!" Dawn's smile was somewhere between fierce and joking, but the sentiment was true.

Nando laughed, fingers plucking a quick, lighthearted melody from the strings. "I would expect nothing less my friend! It seems we have a plan for tomorrow, so what do you say to enjoying the rest of today, together? The crowd will part easier for two than for one."

"That sounds great," Dawn replied. Looking out at the masses, she had to admit that facing it now, as a team, was far more enjoyable than forcing her way through alone.

#

The trees loomed large over the gathered trainers, sentinels before the starting gate. The group of trainers, over a hundred strong, moved about restlessly like racing Rapidash before the gate opens. Dawn was no exception to the rule, fingering the Pokéballs at her belt, twisting her hair between her fingers and looking up at the small wooden stage a few feet away. They had better start soon or her impatience would get the better of her. Nando beside her was as calm as ever, plucking a lively tune from his harp even as he watched the crowd flit about.

"What Pokémon do you think we'll find?" Dawn asked, trying to distract herself from the imminent start bell. "I've seen some Budew in the fields, a lot of Combee and some Pachirisu but only one of those is a grass-type, and not a particularly rare one at that."

"I was told by the keepers of the gate that the town has procured some rare specimens from other regions," Nando said, moving to finger the higher strings of his harp. "I heard one trainer talking about Hoppip, but they are not a particularly rare species. I believe we shall have to do better to win this contest for ourselves."

"Does anyone know the prize?"

"I believe we are about to find out," Nando noted, directing her attention to the stage. The crowd of trainers and assorted on-looker turned as one to find a tall, gray-haired man standing on the stage, his eyes tired but voice perky as he said, "Welcome, one and all, to the Floaroma Grass-Type Catching Contest! Thank you all for participating today, I can already tell that competition is going to be fierce! Since I'm sure none of you wants to hear me talk for longer than necessary, let's get down to discussing the rules:"

"When the bell sounds, the Trainers will be released into the fields and forest around Floaroma. The boundary is the river and the far eastern side of town; you cannot pass the far eastern edge of town looking for Pokémon and you cannot cross the river, even over the bridge. Each Trainer may catch as many Pokémon as they like and are able to, but no Trainer may submit more than one to the competition for judging once the timer has run out. Only grass-type Pokémon may be submitted to the competition and the Pokémon deemed the strongest or rarest will win the Trainer who caught it the prize. We have released several rare Pokémon, many from different regions, into the woods and fields in order to make the competition more interesting and rewarding to all you Trainers. But I'm sure you're all interested in something else: the grand prize!"

"Only the winner will receive a prize; all others will simply keep the Pokémon that they caught. The grand prize for winning the Floaroma Annual Grass-Type Catching Contest is a bouquet of our famous Gracidea Flowers in homage to Shaymin the Purifier, and an extremely rare Shiny Stone!" With a flourish, the man extended a hand to reveal a stone glowing with pure, white light.

Dawn was so startled she nearly fell over. A Shiny Stone? Those were some of the rarest and most valuable evolutionary stones there were. Water Stones could be found in quantity by deep-diving Pokémon in deep lakes and the ocean, Fire Stones appeared regularly by the mouths of volcanoes, Thunder Stones could be harvested after particularly violent thunderstorms when lightning hit the correct kind of rocks. Leaf Stones, Ice Stones, even Dusk Stones and Dawn Stones were more findable than Shiny Stones. It was rumored that Shiny Stones only appeared in places where the Legends has walked, stones becoming infused with their great power and light as they passed, the stones able to transfer some of that power to the Pokémon who touched them. Floaroma Town must have far more resources than she could have believed to get their hands on one, let alone give it away as a prize for the contest. She could already feel the competitive greed making her heart race, feel the blood pumping in her veins as she turned to grin at Nando.

"Are there any more questions before we begin?" Asked the mayor, placing the stone back in its case and turning to face the crowd of trainers once again. A pregnant silence, just waiting for the command to start. The mayor picked up a mallet sitting by his feet and turned to the large bell at his side.

"All right then, let's begin!" With a mighty whack of the mallet, the sonorous clang of the bell rang out and the trainers were off, sprinting into the trees.

Dawn sprinted ahead with all the speed she could muster, splitting off from Nando almost immediately as he took a quick right into a thick cluster of trees. Where should she start looking? She had three options that she could see: the fields, the forest, and the town. There might be one or two in town but that was the least likely place to find a good grass type, so she crossed it off her list immediately. Fields or forest? She didn't have a particular species in mind so it wouldn't be a matter of choosing which species might live where.

She tried approaching the problem from a different angle. What was her biggest obstacle to catching a great Pokémon right now? The other competitors. Which location was likely to help her lose them? The forest, in the fields they could all see each other, which would mean more chases and potentially more fighting over captures.

Dawn took a left when a small clearing opened up, stopping and waiting for the competitors to race past before looking around the area. Dawn waited until she couldn't hear anyone else before she started walking, a perpendicular track to the way everyone had been running. Most Pokémon would have fled away from the crowd not run in front of it, so running the same way as the crowd was a bad idea.

Then again, so was walking alone. With three flashes of light Crest, Zephyr and Ion appeared, each making a sound of greeting as they materialized.

"Hey guys," Dawn greeted them, "It's time for the catching contest I told you about last night. What do you say we grab another member for the team and show Nando up while doing it?"

All three made excited sounds but none were louder than Crest's trill. A competition always sounded good to him.

"Great! If you all could use your senses to find any clues to where a grass type might have gone that would be great. Zephyr, you can go fly ahead. Try to find Pokémon you haven't ever seen before, those are the rare ones they released into the woods for the festival only, they'll give us the best chance of winning. If you happen to meet one and think it would have a great place on the team that works too." Dawn was barely finished speaking before Zephyr took off, shooting into the sky.

"No fighting anyone!" Dawn yelled after him, and she thought she caught a disappointed squawk as his went out of sight. She couldn't stop him from fighting without being within sight, but she could at least try to discourage him.

Ion's huge ears and bright eyes twitched and roamed, and he turned on the spot, trying to track down his quarry through his superior vision and hearing. Crest took up a position by Dawn's side, a guard in case something came out of the trees. Unlike the others he had no particular tracking abilities in this environment, his body and abilities more suited for hunting in the cold arctic waters than in the forest on a late spring afternoon.

They spent the next half an hour or so following Ion on a meandering, slow path through the woods, following whatever it was that Ion could see ahead of them. All Dawn could see was a thick tangle of leaves, branches, grasses, bushes and more leafy greens that she didn't have a name for. A stark contrast to the well-manicured gardens and fields of Floaroma, Dawn found she liked this side of town better. Seeing the chaos of the natural world growing together without rules or restrictions made the place seem much more natural. That didn't mean it wasn't annoying though. A couple of times Dawn had to ask Crest to use Pound to clear a path through the thick undergrowth.

After half an hour of walking Dawn was tired, sweaty, covered in leaves and dirt and just about done with the entire ordeal. She was used to long walks through tough terrain, but the tangled forest was quickly sapping her stamina. She was using her hands as much as her feet to make progress through the greenery.

They had seen a few grass-types on their voyage, along with other forest species, but none of them was particularly rare or a Pokémon that Dawn wanted on her team. The most interesting Pokémon that she had seen was a rare Drifloon that floated away up and over the trees the moment she stepped forward. The only thing keeping them going was Ion. His nose was stuck to the ground, his ears were twitching, and he gave off the occasional spark as he focused on whatever her was tracking, but he could just walk underneath the huge growing plants that Dawn had to cut through to move forward. It seemed like the undergrowth grew ever thicker as they progressed.

That errant thought pulled her up short. It _was_ growing thicker. Looking forward, it was hard to imagine anything moving through all those vines, grasses, trees and bushes easily. Anything _except _a grass type. She's seen something similar her first day as a trainer, fighting Zephyr's flock in the tall grass outside her village. A defense mechanism against predators, like the Trainers coming to catch the rare Pokémon.

Ion chose that moment to look up and let out a soft whine, ears twitching frantically, He caught her eyes and nodded softly forward, past the next thick clump of brush.

"Great job Ion" Dawn whispered, kneeling down to scratch at his favorite spot behind the ears. "Stay close okay? We're need to be as stealthy as possible going in then go for the capture. Everyone ready?" She looked down at Crest and Ion to see them nodding their acceptance. Dawn knelt into a crouch and slowly did a sort of-half waddle to duck beneath the nearest green barricade, making sure to move slowly and quietly.

Thick green covered her vision and she stumbled along mostly by feel, a nudge at her back every once in a while helping her stay on track. After a minute of waddling along and gaining some healthy respect for Crest along the way (he did this _all the time?_ Maybe she would roll back on the sprints in the future…) Dawn saw hints of light prickling through the undergrowth.

When Dawn emerged, she found a small clearing than danced with light coming through the leafy treetops, Zephyr perched in a tree near the edge, and a single Pokémon waiting in the center of the clearing.

The Pokémon was quadrupedal, the short, twisting horns on top of its head reaching to just under shoulder height on Dawn. It had a shaggy brown coat covered by what looked like a thick pelt of soft grass down its spine, as well as a white face with a brown blaze. It had no tail to speak of, instead having three small leaves protruding where a tail would normally be found. Large black eyes watched her curiously as Dawn stood up, not daring to take her eyes off the strange Pokémon. Its cloven hooves looked strong and Dawn was sure those horns could cause some damage, but it made no aggressive movements, even as Crest and Ion appeared from the bush behind Dawn.

Dawn had no idea what this Pokémon was. It was clearly foreign and while she'd studied foreign species in school and through reading on her own, she couldn't recognize this one. If it had been brought in specially for the tournament, then it was likely to be rare even where it came from. Slowly, making no sudden movements, Dawn pulled her backpack around and dug in one of the pockets, looking for a specific bag. Finding it, she pulled it out and let the contents spill into her hand before stretching it out towards the Pokémon.

Slowly, carefully, it began to walk forward, tension evident in every line of its body. Once it saw the round berries in Dawn's hand the pace picked up a little, but Dawn had to wait a bit before it felt comfortable picking the Oran Berry out of her hand. It immediately retreated a few steps before tearing the berry to shreds with dull teeth. A herbivore then. Not surprising considering that most grass-types ate their natural element rather than meat, if they ate at all. She could certainly use that; feeding three carnivores was almost too much for her wallet to handle right now, since she wasn't at a level where battles involved a lot of prize money. A herbivore would need food but it wasn't as expensive as carnivore mixes. Plus, that grass was glowing slightly every time the Pokémon stepped into the sunlight; she suspected that the grass-type wouldn't need much food as long as it had sufficient sunlight.

"Hello there," Dawn said, her voice soft as the Pokémon finished the berry. She could try to just catch it now, attack with Crest, Zephyr and Ion. That would be faster, and probably smarter. She could get back with a rare Pokémon with plenty of time to spare. But this Pokémon appeared so gentle, she couldn't make herself give the order. Better to ask it if it wanted to join her than to force a reluctant member onto their tight-knit team.

Those deep black eyes locked onto Dawn once again, head tilting slightly to one side. Curiosity lived in that gaze; whatever kind of Pokémon this was it was clearly interested in her. No fear lived there, just interest. It wasn't scared.

"My name is Dawn," she introduced herself. "I'm a Pokémon trainer passing through town. This is Crest, Zephyr and Ion." The goat-like Pokémon looked at each of hers in turn, making a strange bleating noise that caused the others to respond with their own cries. Dawn took a step back as the Pokémon began to speak, moving closer to investigate one another. The new Pokémon was quite curious, pushing its nose in as close as possible to her Pokémon to smell them and nearly earning a slap from Crest's Pound when it got too close. A pair of thin vines extended from the thick grass pelt and explored Ion's body, making him squirm as the explored his tail and ears and the ticklish spot on his belly.

Dawn took the moment to grab her Pokédex from her backpack and boot it up, aiming the scanner at the foreign Pokémon. She couldn't have been more grateful to Lucas insisting she get the National Pokédex upgrade when it beeped and began to speak:

_Skiddo, the Mount Pokémon. Because of Skiddo's mild temperament, they're thought to be one of the first Pokémon to live in harmony with people. If it has sunshine and water, it doesn't need to eat, because it can generate energy from the leaves on its back. Skiddo are found in the Kalos Region where the sport of Skiddo and Gogoat racing are common pastimes for residents. This Skiddo is male with the ability Sap Sipper. It has learned the moves Tackle, Growth, Vine Whip, Tail Whip and Leech Seed. _

That explained why Skiddo, while cautious, didn't appear afraid so much as curious about them. It had a decent moveset, favoring boosting moves and physical attacks over long-range elemental abilities. Eyeing the strong orange hooves, she bet that with a little training this grass-type could be a physical beast, especially with its stamina boosted by moves like Leech Seed and Synthesis. Even better, she didn't have to feed it! She could almost hear her wallet crying in relief.

"Skiddo, would you like to join our team?" Dawn asked, breaking into the conversation between Pokémon. Skiddo looked up, watching her for a moment before looking back down at where Ion and Crest stood below him. Zephyr had already taken a liking to the grass type and had perched on one of the outstretched horns. Despite his newly increased size and weight Skiddo didn't appear to mind his placement. Zephyr certainly did when after only a moment Skiddo looked back up and walked forward, forcing Zephyr to take off before he fell off.

Skiddo walked right up to Dawn and thrust his head out, brandishing his horns at her. Crest squawked, trying to run over and put himself between his trainer and the grass-type even as Dawn backpedaled but Skiddo just stepped forward again, pushing his horns toward her so that they were at chest height.

Skiddo didn't appear aggressive; his eyes held no anger, just the curiosity she had seen before. Dawn eyed the horns now leveled at her chest. What did he want? Skiddo bleated again, stepping back a bit and thrusting his horn into one of her raised hands.

"You want me to grab your horns?" Dawn asked hesitantly. Skiddo nodded solemnly, pushing his horns into her hands once more. Slowly, Dawn closed her fingers around each of the horns. They were smooth and cool, small ridges showing where they had grown in segments but the tough material holding up to a quick squeeze. Skiddo's eyes closed and he stood very still. Dawn, still not sure what was going on, did the same. For a moment, nothing dared breathe in their little corner of the Floaroma Woods, even the wind gone silent.

An eternal second passed, time uncountable as Dawn waited in the sunlit grove. After untold eons, Skiddo's eyes opened again and he pulled back gently, causing Dawn to release his horns. They both stepped back, eyeing one another. Crest, Zephyr and Ion watched from the sidelines, awaiting the results of whatever test Skiddo had just administered.

A moment passed and Skiddo nodded his head, expelling a long, low bleat.

Dawn's lips broke into a wide grin even as Zephyr shrieked his approval, loud enough to be heard throughout the forest. Ion was jumping up and down, but Crest still looked at Skiddo with suspicion.

"Welcome to the team Skiddo!" Dawn held out a Pokéball towards the grass type. With a happy bleat Skiddo pushed his nose into the button and allowed himself to dissolve into red light, the ball rocking gently in Dawn's hand for a moment before stilling and making the clicking noise that indicated successful capture.

A moment later the ball was open again and Skiddo was back. Ion and Zephyr rushed forward again to talk, and with a quick nudge from Dawn Crest walked forward as well. Dawn left them to it for a moment while she checked her watch. She had a little less than half an hour before the contest ended; it was probably time to head back towards the entrance.

"Zephyr, can you fly around and find the entrance? There should be a big stage there with a lot of people milling around. When you've found it come back and show us the way please," Dawn requested. Zephyr screeched and took off once again, soaring over the treetops. _Take that mom, now that I have a flying type I don't get lost nearly as much!_

Watching Zephyr fly off made Dawn remember something. "Skiddo, would you like a nickname?" Skiddo looked confused at the idea so Dawn elaborated, "A nickname is a unique name that helps distinguish you from all the other Skiddo. Piplup's name is Crest, Staravia's name is Zephyr and Shinx's name is Ion. Do you want a name? You don't have to if you don't want to."

Skiddo thought about it for a moment before nodding. Dawn had looked up lots of grass-type names before coming into the contest, but even though Skiddo hadn't understood the meaning of nicknames until now he was very picky. After a while Dawn noticed that he didn't seem to like the nicknames associated with his element; names like Moss, Flore, Tropic and the like were quickly discarded. She tried a few Kalosian names, what few she knew, but they too were discarded. Only after looking up to check if Zephyr was back yet did she stumble upon an answer.

Dawn knelt down, bracing her hands on her thighs so she could look Skiddo in the eye. "There are lots of myths and legends lost to time," she began, "stories from thousands upon thousands of years ago that are only remembered by scraps of text from ancient civilizations. That includes different names for the constellations. One of those ancient civilizations named one of the brightest constellations in the sky Aries, and their drawings of the constellation make it look a lot like you. We don't know anything about this mythical Aries, but most constellations are named after great heroes of the past. Do you want to take the name, live up to and perhaps discover the legend?" Skiddo's eyes were shining and she knew she'd found his name even before he nodded his head.

#

_Brrrriiiinnnng!_ The tolling of the huge bell marked the end of the contest, just in time for a final few trainers to sprint out of the forest's edge and back into the clearing. There were a lot more people here now than just the fifty or so trainers that had been present at the beginning. A veritable sea of festivalgoers was crowded around the edges of the clearing, leaving a large space in front of the stage for the competing trainers to gather. The mayor and a trio of judges stood onstage, the trio whispering between themselves while the mayor waited for the crowd to quiet down.

Dawn stood beside Aries a little away from the stage, stroking the soft grass growing on his back to calm him down. He was twitchy near all these people, but didn't seem frightened, just uncomfortable. Dawn could certainly relate. She wished that Crest could be here with them but only the Trainer and the grass-type they caught could be present for the judging. Looking around, Dawn saw more grass types than she could ever remember seeing together in one place. Most the grass types weren't particularly rare; there were more than a few Budew and Roselia, Oddish, Hoppip, Skiploom, Lotad and Seedot. Every once in a while Dawn saw something rarer, like the Cherubi held in the arms of a beaming woman, the Tangela at the feet of a large, burly trainer, or the Cottonee floating around a young man's head. She even saw one or two others that she didn't recognize, like the living pink and purple mushroom cluster one woman held or what looked like a Wurmple wrapped in leaves on one boy's shoulder. Aries was one of the largest Pokémon there, and he'd been garnering quite a few confused and envious stares as the crowd grew.

"Trainers, the catching period has officially ended! All those who intend to enter the catch comparison part of the competition should form orderly rows in front of the stage with your new partner next to you. The judges will come around and examine each Pokémon and ask it to perform one move. Be sure you know what move you have in mind!" The mayor began to wave his arms around even as he spoke, trying to corral them all into the rows he spoke of. Dawn tried to look around for Nando, but the confusion prevented her from seeing even his tall figure.

A few gentle headbutts from Aries made her move forward, falling into the quickly forming row even as the Skiddo stepped up to join her. Abandoning the search for Nando, Dawn thought over the list of Aries' moves, wondering what to display to the judges. None of his moves were particularly visually appealing… "Hey Aries, can you try Growth for me?" He looked up at her for a second before the grass on his back began to glow, the blanket-like patch growing to stretch further down his legs and over his body, thickening around the neck until it looked like a Pyroar's mane. Hmm, that looked like it stimulated the energy in his body, adding to his elemental force and the force of his physical attacks. "Can you show me what happens when you use that with your vines out?" Aries looked confused but nodded, a pair of thin vines extending from the shoulder region, glowing green veins for a moment as they became thicker and longer.

"Perfect! When the judge comes by, that's what I want you to do, okay?" He didn't have anything more visually appealing so it would have to do. Nando would no doubt find something better; contests were his thing after all. Where was he? She wanted to figure out what path he'd decided on. She admitted to being a bit biased; if he chose battling she would get to battle him.

Her musings didn't last long as a judge approached her soon after. He looked impressed at the rarity of her catch, wandering around Aries for a moment before asking her to display a move. Aries did his Growth/Vine Whip combo and the judge moved on. Now she had nothing to do until it was time for the final announcements, so Dawn sat down and pulled out _Strategies and Training Plans, Vol 1 _to scribble down some notes on her new friend. Aries sat down beside her, looking around at all the other Pokémon with interest. He didn't move too close to her, probably still unsure of her, but he did look over at her notes often enough that she began talking to him about what she was writing.

"That's why Razor Leaf is easier for you to learn, Pokémon without plants as a physical part of their bodies have a hard time but since it grows on you naturally-" Dawn was halfway through her explanation of Razor Leaf when a sweet sound filled the air. A lovely tune floated on the breeze, making Dawn's eyelids feel like they had suddenly acquired thousand-pound weights. She struggled to stay awake, forcing her eyes open, but before she knew it everything was dark and she had grass in her mouth. Wait. Grass?

She opened her eyes to find herself with her head on Aries' back, the soft grass proving a good pillow (she tucked that knowledge away for later use). Sitting up she saw Aries' black eyes watching her in concern.

"Sorry bud, I got sleepy all of a sudden." Looking around, it was clear she wasn't the only one. Most of the humans were forcing themselves back to standing or sitting, blinking rapidly and shaking themselves to get rid of the mental fog. "Somebody must have used Grass Whistle or Sing or something." Thinking back to Nando's harp, she had a strong suspicion of who.

She made to get up from her reclined position but Aries just nudged her his his sound, forcing her to lean back against him. "Someone's worried," she teased. She didn't fight him though, instead leaning back and continuing her rambling and note-writing, waiting for the contest to end.

After another half an hour the judges were finished as standing on stage, the mayor ringing the bell to bring them all back together again.

"We have the results of the Floaroma Town Annual Grass-Type Catching Contest!" he announced in a booming voice, looking down at a slip of paper handed to him by one of the judges.

"Everyone put your hands together for the winner of the Floaroma Town Grass-Type Catching Contest, Nando Naoshi of Celestic Town!" Applause rose up from the crowd in waves as Nando's distinct form appeared, the crowd parting to give him space. Even before he arrived at the stage Dawn could she why he'd won but the mayor announced it for all those who couldn't see.

"Nando was skilled and lucky enough to snag a rare Chikorita with the egg move Grass Whistle!" More than a few gasps rose from the crowd; egg moves were rare enough but a Starter Pokémon? Starters were extremely rare and specially bred only in their home regions; if you saw a trainer with a Starter Pokémon or one of its evolutions it was almost guaranteed that that Pokémon was their starter.

Nando was already plucking at his harp, mellifluous sounds wafting along on the breeze. Hs new Chikorita joined in, singing a sweet tune that made Dawn's eyes feel heavy for a moment before the sensation passed. The mayor looked tiny beside Nando's tall form but the Shiny Stone in his hands ensured that all eyes were on him as he passed it to Nando.

"And with that, the contest has ended. A great many thanks to all our trainers for participating!" The cheers and screams scared more than a few wild Pokémon into fleeing as the crowd roared its approval. Aries stepped closer to Dawn, uneasy with all the sounds and movement. Dawn smiled down at him. She hadn't won, but she'd gained a rare and invaluable new friend to join the team.

Dawn turned as the crowd began to break up, intending to congratulate Nando, but he was almost instantly swarmed by new admirers as soon as he stepped off the stage. Looked like she would have to wait for a chance to ask him what his decision was.

Aries caught her attention with another of his soft headbutts. "What is it bud?" He nodded off to the side of the platform. Dawn turned, just in time to see two large, burly fellows with… green hair? Wait, they looked a lot like the people she and Lucas had fought in Jubilife…

The two strangers were standing to the side of one of the vendors stands set up at edges of the crowd. There was a third man with them, clearly the stall owner from his apron. All three of the men were arguing, not loudly enough to hear over the hubbub of the crowd but apparently quite passionately. The two strange men with green hair and spacemen outfits stepped forward, crowding the shop owner, but the salesman refused to give an inch, shaking his head vigorously.

"Come on Aries, let's go see what that's about." Casting one last glance over to the crowd around Nando, Dawn started fighting the tide of the crowd to make her way to the stall. Dawn had just escaped the crush of people when she heard a strangled yell, suddenly cut off, and saw a quick glimpse of the two men physically dragging the poor stall owner away, past the treeline towards the hills.

"Let's go Aries!"

#

Dawn and Aries caught up with the trio in the flower-covered hills on Floaroma's northern side, just past the edge of the forest. It was clear to see that the third man was in pain and being forced here against his will: he hadn't stopped struggling the entire time the men holding him kept having to readjust their grips. Now that they were away from the hubbub of the contest Dawn could hear what he was saying:

"Unhand me at once you two! I don't care what you want, harassing me both verbally and physically is not the way to get it! The second I get back to town I will report the both of you to Officer Jenny and the rest of the police!"

"That's supposed to make us let go?" one of the men drawled. He was the taller of the two, which was about the only way Dawn could distinguish them with their shared attire, hair color and general build from the back.

"Enough arguing! Hand over that sweet Honey!" the second man said.

"Team Galactic will have that Honey. We can use it to attract more Pokémon in great numbers. We almost have all the energy needed, more test subjects and soldiers would be most appreciated."

A stick broke under Dawn's feet as she ran forward, Aries keeping pace at her side. The sharp sound caused both men to whirl around, their victim yelling as he too was wrenched around.

"A kid? What is a kid doing here?" one of them asked.

"Who cares? We don't need that brat running off to get help or interfering, so the solution's pretty simple. We ensure the brat stays quiet! Besides, that Pokémon looks pretty rare. We might get noticed by the bosses if we bring it in," the other said.

"Let that man go, he's not obligated to give you anything," Dawn said, panting slightly from her mad dash. Aries growled, moving between the thieves and Dawn as she caught her breath.

"And what will you do about it kid? You're a witness, so we need to get rid of you!" The taller man threw a Pokéball, allowing a Stunky to appear in front of him. His friend threw out a madly chittering Zubat that zipped around, clearly distressed by the bright sunlight.

Not good. Aries was a completely new Pokémon to her, and she hadn't gotten too much of a chance to research his species. Even worse, he was a pure grass type facing down a poison type and a flying and poison type. Then again, he didn't have to be alone.

With a flash of light Crest appeared by her side, chirping cheerfully when he saw her. She pointed towards their opponents and Crest turned, eyes narrowing and body bending down slightly, getting ready to run forward.

"Acid! Aim for the grass type then go after the Piplup!"

"Supersonic! Confuse them!"

"Crest, Bubble net! Absorb their attacks then Bubble the Zubat, slow it down! Aries, Growth then Vine Whip! Aim for the Stunky!"

A wave of sludge hit the Bubbles Crest spat out, popping them but arresting all forward momentum so that the purple sludge hit the ground, hissing as it melted the grass and soil below. A second later a high-pitched screech rang out, making all parties stumble and sway. Zubat dove down with glowing fangs, heading straight for Aries, whose body was still glowing with the energy of Growth.

"Aries!" Dawn cried a warning, but it was unnecessary. Aries sidestepped, allowing Zubat to sink its fangs into the dirt instead of his grassy hide. A stomp of his hoof summoned a trio of glowing roots from the ground, trapping Zubat and pulsing with green light as they began to steal energy for their master.

"Poison Fang Zubat, get out of there!"

As Zubat tried in vain to twist and turn and bite its way out of the grassy prison, Crest was giving Stunky a workout, making it run and dive and jump madly to avoid the Bubbles directed at it. It managed to dodge the last of the Bubbles only to run right into Crest's outstretched wing, which was glowing white with the power of Pound. It collapsed and didn't move again.

Aries executed one last Tackle on the trapped Zubat, and both of their enemies were out. Both thieves were looking nervous now, recalling their Pokémon and cringing back when Aries and Crest stepped forward in unison.

"I think you should let that man go now," Dawn said, her tone polite but unyielding.

"I don't think so brat," the shorter man said, straightening up in a sudden movement, a smile breaking out across his face where fear had been before.

Before she could react Dawn felt a large body shove her to the ground with all the force it could muster. She went flying, falling in a heap of tangled limbs, backpack, grass and flowers. Looking up from her newly prone position, Dawn saw Aries standing in the spot where she had been seconds ago. A Zubat had glowing purple fangs sunk into the grassy part of his pelt.

Crest reacted faster than his trainer to the new addition to the battle. His beak glowed blue and he shot forward, landing a powerful Peck on the Zubat, knocking it off Aries. A quick Bubble had the second Zubat unconscious as well.

Dawn was outwardly calm as she stood and went to make sure Aries was alright, but inwardly her thoughts were a mixture of fear, panic, relief and fury, rattling around like Zubat in a cage. That had been _much_ too close. Kneeling down by Aries, she saw the bite had corroded some of his plant life, but he looked otherwise okay.

"You okay buddy? Thanks for knocking me out of the way, I would have been a goner without you." Aries nodded, nudging her with his horns. She tried to stand but nearly collapsed, her internal fear and relief finally expressing itself. She couldn't look up, couldn't face the men who had nearly killed her, who she'd arrogantly chased after. What had she been thinking, she could have died-

Aries nudged her again with his horns, forcing her to grab them. Neither moved for a moment, the firm, smooth material beneath her fingers and Aries' concern and support allowing Dawn to calm her shaking body and reassert control over her frantic thoughts.

"Thanks," Dawn said as she stood, unable to express the depths of her gratitude but trying all the same. She didn't know Aries well enough yet to see if he got the message, but he stood up as well, shaking a bit to throw off any last drops of poison.

Dawn turned, keeping her back to Aries, finally able to look at the captured thieves again. It turned out that her determination was for naught; the men had already taken off, running pell-mell down the hill towards the river and low-lying fields near the Valley Windworks complex. Crest was angrily screeching after them, but there was no chance he could catch up. They'd left the Zubat behind in favor of escaping once they saw their last gambit fail.

Their captive stood in the same place as before, rubbing his arms where the redness hadn't yet vanished. He looked up as Dawn walked over.

"Thank you! Thank you so much! Those two wanted me to give them my entire stock of Honey, for what reason I can't say. I told them I would do so if they could pay but they decided force was a better option. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised, those hooligans have such a horrible sense of fashion it's not surprising they lack in other areas as well. Thank you again!"

"No problem sir, I noticed them drag you off and I couldn't leave you like that. Did they say who they were?"

"They called themselves 'Team Galactic,' whatever that means. Some sort of criminal group perhaps? Oh, but they did drop this in their haste to escape." The vendor withdrew a small iron key from his pocket, handing it over to Dawn. She turned it over in her hands, inspecting it. It was study, more elaborate than a normal house key. A small name tag was looped through one end. It read "Valley Windworks Master" in neat handwriting.

"Why the heck did they have a key to the Valley Windworks?" Dawn asked aloud.

"No idea. Maybe one of the thieves works there when not playing dress-up? I've got to get back to my stall, make sure all the Honey isn't gone and see if I can still turn a profit before the crowds fade away. Thanks again for your help!" The man took off, running back towards the forest and leaving Dawn and Aries standing in the flower field. Dawn shook her head and withdrew a potion container, applying the spray liquid to Aries' bite as she thought.

"Well, I guess all that's left is to report this to the police and return this key. Hmm, where to first?" Dawn looked east, towards where the hills dipped to meet the river. She could see the tops of giant windmills in the distance, all spinning leisurely. "I guess to the Valley Windworks. If one of those guys works there I can ask about it when I return the key." Finishing up applying the potion, Dawn recalled Aries with a final word of thanks. She stuck the key in her pocket and scooped Crest up in her arms, heading off down the hill towards the squat concrete building she could see below the windmills. Even as she walked, she couldn't quash the feelings of foreboding creeping up on her, stemming from the iron key in her pocket.

**#**

**Sorry this chapter took so long, my thesis has been eating up all my free time. I'll probably have more time to write by mid-May and I'll do my best to carve out writing time before then, but I can't promise anything. I hope you enjoyed the chapter! I love the Skiddo line so Aries joins Dawn's party as her catch during the festival, just in time for Team Galactic to cause trouble. This chapter doesn't have much action, but next chapter will make up for that in spades. Thanks for reading, see you next time!**


	6. Valley Windworks Woes

Chapter 6: Valley Windworks Woes

Dawn knocked again, knuckles pounding painfully on the unrelenting steel. Her knuckles were raw and red from all the banging, but the faint sounds of footsteps and the occasional voice echoing from behind the doors meant she still had a chance.

"They can't be that hard of hearing, right?" Looking down, Crest appeared as confused as she was. He tapped the side of his head with one flipper and nodded to the door.

"You can hear them, I can hear them, I'm sure they can hear me banging on the door. I checked their hours, they should still be open. What the heck is going on?" Fishing in her pocket, Dawn took out the Master key she'd found after the two "Team Galactic Grunts" fled.

"Would it be wrong to just open the door and go on in? It is kind of important, I'm pretty sure they'd want to know about someone running around with a master key and one of their employees potentially being a thief." On the other hand, that could possibly get her arrested.

Then she heard a muffled scream, and all thoughts of legality became the least important things in the world.

Sharing a panicked look with Crest, Dawn stuffed the key in the lock and turned, pushing hard to make the heavy steel door move. It moved forward more easily than expected, oiled hinges allowing the door to swing open. Dawn stumbled forward, stuffing the key back in her pocket as she ran to find whoever it was screaming.

Dawn pulled up short, freezing in place when she saw who was standing a few feet away: a pair of people in the same uniforms as the Jubilife City and flower field criminals. Team Galactic Grunts?

"What the hell is a kid doing here?"

"I don't know, we had the door locked tight and Anthony is on guard duty. She shouldn't be able to get in."

"Doesn't matter anyway. Hey girlie, you picked the wrong place to bust into."

The grunt's arrogant tone shocked Dawn out of her stupor. "And why is that," Dawn retorted, Crest already in front of her, ready to leap into action.

"Because we're almost done here and we can't have some do-gooder nobody interfering with out plans. Get ready for a world of pain!" The man had three Pokéballs, which opened in sequence to reveal a Stunky, Drifloon, and Bidoof. The woman beside him was just reaching for her Pokéballs when Crest struck.

A thick wall of bubbles obscured their enemies from view for a second, just long enough for Dawn to grab a Pokéball off her belt and throw it. Ion appeared in a flash of light, looking utterly confused at his new surroundings. It didn't help that at that moment all the Bubbles popped, showing that an Ekans, Houndour and Zubat had joined the fight.

"Crest, keep up the Bubble Wall! Ion, zap it!" Her Pokémon did what they were told, Crest reforming the Bubble wall seconds before Ion crashed into it, his fur glowing with the power of Spark. The wall exploded in a shower of light and sparks, electrocuting all Pokémon touching it when the Spark hit. Once the light and steam cleared Dawn could see the Drifloon and Zubat down on the floor, twitching madly.

"Don't just stand there, attack!" The command didn't help their Pokémon much against Crest and Ion. The two well-trained Pokémon wove through the pack like dancers through a crowd of drunks, ducking and dodging and attacking at just the right moment. The grunt's Pokémon were clearly untrained. Their timing and aim were off by miles, hitting each other more often than they hit her Pokémon. Worst of all, they constantly got in each other's way- an accidental Acid from Stunky that landed right in front of Houndour saved Ion from a vicious Ember.

Before long all their Pokémon were out cold on the floor and both grunts were shaking in their boots as Dawn checked their belts for more Pokéballs and her surroundings for a sneak attack.

"Now talk," Dawn demanded, striding forward with Crest and Ion flanking her. "Who are you people and what are you doing here? Why do your grunts keep attacking people? What do you want with the Valley Windworks?"

"We aren't telling you anything brat! What gives you the right to bust in here and mess with Team Galactic?"

"Maybe the fact that it's clear you guys aren't meant to be here either? Or the fact that every time I run into you people you're trying to hurt someone else? I just stopped two of your men from beating up a guy for his honey!" Dawn's fists clenched at her side as she remembered the man's expression of pure panic. She stepped forward, getting up in their faces, but both grunts remained silent.

"Crest, show them what happens if they don't answer." His glowing blue beak descended, punching a hole in the thick tile floor at his feet. She wouldn't ask Crest to actually hurt them, but they didn't know that.

Both grunts paled. "Alright alright! Team Galactic is here to collect power. The Windworks is the easiest place to get it, it's understaffed and doesn't have great security, plus it makes more than enough juice."

"But we brought an Admin with us! You won't stand a chance brat!" The other piped up, glaring at Dawn and her partners.

"That so? Then I'll have to call in some backup." Dawn had just begun to type in the emergency number on her Pokétch when she heard a shout. Instead of coming from the grunts in front of her, it came from behind.

"Intruder! Blast the brat Houndour!" Dawn immediately sprinted forward, pushing past her erstwhile captives and moving further into the hall to avoid the blast of heat she could feel at her back. That must have been their outside guard, on the other side of the building or moving between buildings when she arrived and started knocking. A hurried glance over her shoulder showed him releasing several other Pokémon from a full belt even as the defeated grunts moved to join him.

Ion tried to shock them, but his work on Spark meant he was better at condensing the electricity near his body rather than shooting it. The bolts went wide, hitting parts of the floor and nearby walls instead of the approaching horde, but making them hesitate a step. Crest's shrieks of fury added to their hesitation, buying Dawn an extra second in which to act.

"Crest, Ion, Electric Net!" Understanding her implicitly, they performed the same Bubble Net and Spark combo as before. Dawn used the distraction to call to them both, sprinting down the hallway and taking a few blind turns to gain some space to call the police. Her hands were shaking madly from running and adrenaline but two hallways later the phone was ringing.

"Hello, this is Floaroma Town Police Station, how can I help you?"

"Send officers to the Valley Windworks immediately, it's been taken over by power thieves calling themselves 'Team Galactic' and I heard a scream earlier. I'm trapped in the building, please send help!"

"What are you talking about? Team Galactic? This better not be some kind of joke-"

"Just hurry and send people!" Dawn left the call running in case it helped them track her down, releasing Zephyr just as a pack of six Pokémon rounded the corner. With a wordless cry her Pokémon spun and leapt forward to face them. Dawn didn't have time to think as she commanded her Pokémon, shouting suggestions and pointing out attacks they couldn't see coming.

"Zephyr, look out for the Acid!"

"Ion, duck! Hit it with Bite!"

"Crest, help Zephyr! Pound Wooper!"

It was so different than normal battles where she was anticipating moves, trying to plan every step in advance. She had to dance backwards to avoid moves more than once, and every time it was a close call.

Thankfully these Pokémon weren't used to working together either. Zubat's Supersonic addled half of them in one go, allowing Crest and Ion to take out their ground forces before they could recover. Zephyr snatched Zubat right out of the air with his talons, the poison type too occupied by the yells of its trainer to pay attention to the only other flying opponent on the field.

The hallway was wrecked and Dawn's Pokémon were breathing hard but when the dust cleared all the enemy Pokémon were out and Dawn's Pokémon still standing. The Galactic trainer didn't bother to recall his Pokémon, instead taking off down the hallway yelling for help. She could hear more shouts further in the facility.

"Come on, we have to get out of here or at least find a place to hide!" Dawn ran for it, Zephyr flying ahead but finding it hard to maneuver his bulk in the small corridors. Ion ran a few feet in front of Dawn, guarding the front while Crest hung back a step or two behind Dawn, struggling to keep up. They ran through the maze of corridors, trying to replicate the path Dawn had taken in their first wild flight. After the third turn Dawn gave up trying to make sense of the endless white hallways, taking whatever turn felt right. By the fifth turn she could hear the pounding of many feet in the distance, getting closer every second. _By the Original One, I hope the police get here soon!_

A glance back showed her Crest steps behind them, panting heavily and rushing to catch up. They had to hide, wait for the police to arrive. Running wouldn't help them anymore. She had to act on the decision a second later when she heard a yell down the hall.

"Come on, they said the intruder went this way!" The first door Dawn tried was locked, as was the second, but the third near the end of the hallway opened when she pulled the handle. Gesturing frantically to her Pokémon, Dawn threw open the door and rushed through it, followed by Zephyr and Ion, with Crest waddling in two seconds later. She closed the door and ducked to the side, one ear pressed against the door, her Pokémon tucked in close against her sides.

"Damn, how'd a kid get in here anyway? I thought those idiots were keeping track of the trainers in town and we had a guard!" This grunt sounded female, her footsteps stopping a few feet away from the door. A male voice spoke from right in front of the door. Dawn almost forget how to breathe, pressing herself into the wall like she could melt into it.

"Dunno, but Commander Mars'll be _pissed_ if they interfere with the op. We're almost done anyway, can't screw it up now, so shut up and search. This place is big but it isn't _that_ big…"

Steps indicated the two grunts walking past the door and down the hall. Dawn didn't release her breath until she couldn't hear footsteps anymore. She slid down the wall, collapsing in a mess of shaking limbs and harsh breathing on the cold tile floor. Her palms pressed into her forehead, her splayed fingers twisting into her hair, eyes shut tight in a futile attempt to shut out the world for a moment.

Crest's head thrust into her side, a cool counterweight to her panic. His cool comfort combined with Ion's attempts to burrow into her lap made her breathing begin to slow. Even Zephyr tugged on a stray strand of hair escaping from her hat, attempting to calm her down even if he was too big to get too close.

Once her body stopped shaking, she allowed her hands to drop to her lap and started looking around the room they'd found themselves in. It was dark, a bit of meager light filtering in through the door's shaded window outlining the shadowy shapes of boxes stacked on shelves. A storage room then. Strange shadows made by complex machines made the room look ominous in the dim light.

"I'm alright," Dawn told her Pokémon, looking back at their concerned faces. "What about you guys? It was chaos out there, trying to fight six at once in such confined space. I'm proud of you all for doing so well!"

Zephyr's quiet chirp didn't carry far, but it was still more sound than Dawn wanted. A finger to her lips made him fall silent.

"We need to get out of here, but it's probably best to wait for the police. They'll cause enough of a ruckus to either let us escape or arrest Team Galactic and allow us to walk right out the door. The call should still be running…" A quick glance at her Pokétch made her heart drop straight out of her body. The screen said "DISCONNECTED" in big red letters.

"Shadow's spikes! I hope the call stayed going long enough for them to get the idea." An ear pressed up against the door and a few moments of silence told her there were no grunts currently nearby, but it probably wouldn't stay that way much longer. "Okay, I don't know if they believed me or not, so we'll wait and gather our strength until the police arrive or until too many search teams…" Dawn stilled, words trailing off into oblivion. That sound in the corner of the room hadn't come from her team.

Her Pokémon heard it too, each tensing and turning to face the source of the sound. Ion looked ready to pounce on anything that moved; his ears twitched madly, and his claws were fully extended. Only now did Dawn start wondering why this door had been unlocked while all the others remained locked.

Slowly, hardly daring to breathe, Dawn stood up, one hand on the wall keeping her steady as she moved forward into the darkness, her Pokémon in formation in front of her. Now that she was paying attention, she could hear tiny sounds in the darkness: quick breathing, something occasionally shifting. Turning a corner around a shelf let her see the source of the sound: a small human form, curled up in a ball on the lowest shelf, tucked into the furthest corner from the door. Ion's growl and the sparks jumping off his body made the child squeak, pushing themselves further back into the corner.

"Back off Ion! She's scared, can't you see?" The sparks stopped dancing, leaving them further in shadow but the light had been enough to see the girl's terrified face. Dawn approached with slow, measured steps, gesturing to her Pokémon to stay back. Ion in particular looked mutinous but they stayed where they were as Dawn knelt in front of the girl.

"Hello there, I'm Dawn. I'm sorry we scared you. I promise we're not going to hurt you. Can you come out?"

"Y-y-you.. Aren't with the bad people?" The girl's voice was hesitant and halting but she was slowly uncurling, tear-stained face turning towards Dawn again.

"No, I'm not, I'm hiding from them too. Can you tell me what happened?" Dawn sat and gestured for the girl to join her. A moment later she was almost knocked over by the force of the sobbing little girl as she rushed forward to hug her.

"I was so s-s-scared! Daddy and I were in the b-big room with all the computers. Then the mean people dressed like spacemen came in and g-g-grabbed me and grabbed Daddy. Th-they said if Daddy didn't help them, they would h-h-hurt me! The scary lady with the red hair yelled at him and said he had to do something with the w-w-windmills." Dawn hugged the sobbing girl tightly, rubbing one hand on her back in soothing circles. Crest and Ion, now satisfied the girl wasn't a threat, pushed themselves into either side of the girl, Ion's tiny pink tongue licking any open skin it could find on either of them.

"How did you get away?"

"Th-the scary lady sent someone to lock the doors and the mean people went all over the place. Then Loony got out of his P-Pokéball and tried to help Daddy. The lady's Pokémon attacked Loony. The scary lady and spacemen weren't paying attention to me, so I ran and hid. I was playing with Daddy's Pokégear earlier and his key was attached to the back, so I could unlock the door, but the mean people were at the door, so I ran and hid in here." She was calming down some now, able to speak more coherently.

"Do you know why the spacemen came? And who's this lady?"

"Th-they said something about the windmills, the one Daddy works on. A bunch of them went into the big room where Daddy works, the one I'm not allowed to go into. There are a lot of big machines there. They took Daddy with them while the scary lady with the red hair worked on the computers in the main room. Her P-Pokémon are really big and really mean! They hurt Loony!" The girl buried her head in Dawn's shoulder again.

Nightmares, this was getting complicated fast. Now she had a decision to make. Wait here for help, try to escape with the girl, or try to find where they held her father. He must be the one in charge of the facility if they wanted his help with whatever they were doing. Stealing power? The grunts had mentioned something along those lines. It must have been him screaming earlier, when she was at the door. That meant the room where he was had to be near the door, or at least closer than they were right now. If the girl had heard her father's screams, she would have been even more terrified than she was already. Dawn didn't know how deep into the facility they were now, but she had made quite a few turns in her mad flight from the grunts.

"Miss?" Dawn broke from her reverie to find the girl staring at her again. "Can you save Daddy? Your Pokémon are super cool! I bet you could save Daddy!" Those big eyes, full of hope and desperation, were as effective as a Thunderbolt to the heart. Dawn knew what she had to do. Now to find a way to actually do it.

"I can try, but you'll have to stay here okay? Stay here and be as quiet as you can. Once I've found your Daddy, I'll come find you again. Can you do that?"

The girl shrunk back a little, her bottom lip quivering, but nodded anyway. Dawn hugged her one more time before lifting her off her lap and climbing to her feet. The girl curled up in her hiding place again and Dawn turned to face her Pokémon. A second of thought had her plucking the last Pokéball off her belt and releasing Aries; she would need all the firepower she could get.

The Skiddo looked confused at being released in such a small, dark place. He tried to make a sound, but Dawn put a finger to her lips just in time to stop him. She explained the situation to him, keeping one ear out as she listened for any grunts coming their way. She had to stop in the middle of her explanation once as she heard footsteps approaching, but they walked past their door without any incident.

She finished up her explanation with what she intended their next move to be: "We have to save her father. He's hurt, judging by the screams, and he's being forced to help these criminals. We can't just leave him here! Will you all help me free him?"

Her Pokémon looked at her, then at each other. Aries was fidgety, raising and lowering his front left hoof, head swiveling constantly as he looked from the girl huddled in the racks behind them, to the glowing outline of the door, to Dawn, and back again. Ion's tail and ears twitched, his claws extending and retracting every other second. Zephyr ruffled his feathers, puffing himself up so that he appeared bigger than he was.

Crest stepped forward, no hesitation in his stride. He walked right in front of Dawn, his deep blue eyes never leaving hers, stopping a foot away and extending a single flipper to her. A smile broke out on her face and she extended her own fist, bumping it into Crest's flipper. Just the knowledge that her starter was with her made everything seem so much more feasible.

Crest turned to face his teammates, extending the other flipper and squawking once, quietly so as to avoid anyone hearing. Ion and Zephyr walked forward to join him, Ion's tail brushing against Dawn and Crest, Zephyr's outstretched wing cuffing them all as he waved it around.

Aries remained where he was, facing them all. His black eyes kept darting to the door, his body shrinking back a bit when he heard footsteps down a distant hall. At one point his gaze strayed to the point on his back where the Poison Fang had landed not two hours before.

"It's your choice Aries," she whispered softly. He fixed his eyes on her, restless body stilling. Crest warbled a low note, his beak lowering a tad. Aries lowered his head; all was still and silent for a long moment. Then he walked forward until his horns bumped against her chest. When he looked up at her, she could see nothing but determination in his eyes, evident even in the meager light.

Her team gathered around her, ready to hear the plan.

"We'll have to be smart about this," she whispered to them. "We don't have the firepower to take out all the grunts and I don't like the sound of this 'scary lady' leading the grunts. She's probably someone higher up in their organization, likely with better trained Pokémon than the grunts. But I also can't leave an innocent, probably hurt man in here."

"We'll find a hiding spot and wait for a distraction- hopefully the police coming in, but I'll take what I can get. Once there aren't too many grunts in the room, or they're distracted we can rush in, beat the grunts holding the man hostage and make a run for it. The room has to be near the door, so hopefully we can get out quickly. Once we're out, we're home free. They won't bother looking for the girl when we're around to make a racket." Dawn fixed her Pokémon with a hard stare.

"Everyone has to work together to make this work. I'm proud of all the hard work we've put in over the past weeks and how far we've come but there are a lot of them and only a few of us. No one goes alone, stick together and help each other out. The more we work together and keep them from doing so, the better chance we have. Got it?" They didn't make noise, too aware of their situation, but the determined eyes and nods she received were more than enough.

"Then let's do this."

#

Every sound was as loud as Exploud's Boomburst to Dawn's ears, every word echoing in the halls made her heart beat a little faster. The slight clopping sounds of Aries' hooves, the swish of Ion's tail swinging through the air, the scuff of her own shoes on smooth tile floors, any of it could bring them to ruin in an instant. But they met no one as they moved through the halls, following the little girl's instructions on how to reach the main control room. She could hear the voices of grunts, but their voices were becoming rarer and rarer instead of more common as they closed in on the room. Were they not searching for her anymore?

Zephyr didn't share her appreciation for the lack of opponents. He beat his wings and shot forward, ignoring her frantic gestures to come back, banking around a corner-

"Huh?" The voice echoed down the corridor at the same time Zephyr's surprised squawk reached Dawn's ears. She sprinted around the corner, just in time to see the grunt open his mouth to shout, his hand moving towards the Pokéballs on his belt-

Green vines lashed out, one wrapping his arms tightly to his sides and the other stuffing itself in his open mouth, stifling his cry. Aries stepped forward, drawing his capture in close. Zephyr did the rest, launching himself forward with a gentle (by his standards) Quick Attack that knocked the man out. Dawn smiled at Aries, ruffling his grassy coat before turning to Zephyr, kneeling to rifle through the grunt's pockets while she tore into Zephyr.

"Zephyr, you can't shoot ahead of us! You almost got us caught!" He didn't look fazed in the slightest; he'd been looking for a fight, so why would he be mad at finding one? She had to change tactics. "We can't fight until we find that girl's father buddy. He'll be protected by the best they have, right? So we'll have to be smart and stealthy to get him and beat the strongest opponents. Sometimes you have to sneak by the weak enemies so you have the energy to fight the strong ones; we have to wait for the right moment to strike instead of rushing in." That made Zephyr straighten up a little, puffing up his chest and making his crest bob. She had to hope that logic would get through his thick skull.

Her search of the man's pockets yielded a Valley Windworks keycard, a photo of a different man on it. Stolen from one of the employees no doubt. She gestured to Aries to keep their captive bound and stood, turning left at the next intersection.

Ahead she saw a set of large double doors and a line of closed doors on the wall to the left. Moving as silently as possible she used the looted keycard to open the one nearest to the double doors, slipping inside with the rest of her team. The room was all offices but the wall it shared with the control room was thin, so even with the door closed she could hear the sounds coming from the control room. Aries dumped his sleeping prisoner in a corner while Crest and Zephyr took up guard positions on either side of Dawn. Ion waited by the door, his ears twitching madly as he listened for anyone approaching their hiding place.

"How close are we?" A sharp, cold voice asked, muffled by the wall but distinct. Dawn could hear the click of boots on the floor, as well as something heavy moving around in the room. A Pokémon probably, and it sounded large. The voice was female. The scary woman the girl talked about?

"Only fifteen minutes and we'll be at full capacity and can withdraw." The other voice was tight and sharp-edged with tension.

"Go. Faster. I want us out of here within ten minutes. We don't know if that brat got ahold of one of our plants or not, and I _don't_ want to find out. This is a covert operation and this energy is vital to our plans. So. Ten minutes. I don't have to explain what happens if you're even a second over, do I? " The sharp edge in her voice could have sliced through stone.

"No Commander! We'll get it done Commander!"

"Good. Now get to work." A burst of clacking keys and soft voices that Dawn didn't catch through the wall. A couple minutes passed in silence, Dawn counting each second that went by. A burst of static interrupted the clacking of keys before the woman's voice echoed through the wall again.

"What is it?"

"Commander Mars, this is Ghost One. Someone tipped off the police about our attack."

"I know idiot, I've had to split up our forces to search for the brat and secure the perimeter. Your job is to make sure that brat's call didn't get through. If you're breaking protocol to contact, I'm assuming not all went to plan?" If the woman's voice had been cold before, it was pure ice now.

"W-We weren't able to stop the call coming through, we didn't catch it in time. We didn't expect a Pokétch signal-"

"I don't want excuses, I want results! How long do we have before the police arrive?"

"Five minutes, we tried to delay them, but the chief insisted on sending a squad. We're already en-route, a team of fifteen. Ghost Two and I will delay them long enough to allow you to escape."

"Ghost, once we've finished here we're going to have a long talk about how you did such a piss-poor job as to let a trainer, all of which you were supposed to track, get in here and mess up our plans so badly." Her voice was honey sweet now, but it sent a shiver up Dawn's spine much worse than the icy tone did.

"Mars out." A burst of static then the Commander was barking out orders. "Team One, we have incoming, arriving in approximately five minutes. Prepare for battle at the main entrance. Team Two, break off search and join them. Team Three, contact HQ and prepare our exit. Teams Four and Five, get us what we came here for! Team Galactic does not leave jobs unfinished!"

A storm of boots, doors opening and closing, the renewed clacking of keys, overlapping shouts. At least ten, probably more, people ran past the door to their room, Zephyr and Ion dropping into battle stances as they waited for someone to open their door. No one did.

This might be their best opportunity to free the prisoner with most of the forces gone from the main room, but she still didn't know where he was. Thankfully, that problem was solved a moment later.

"Commander? What about the director?"

"Keep him working till we have what we need then dispose of him. He's seen and heard too much." Her tone was dismissive.

"Understood. We'll be done in three minutes." It was now or never then. A quick wave to her Pokémon had them in formation around her as she stood up, ready to head out.

"We've only got one shot at this. We go in fast, knock out as many as we can as quickly as we can. Our first priority is the director- we don't have to beat everyone in there if we can get in, get him and get out. I don't know how strong their commander is but I don't want to take chances." She turned to Zephyr first. "Zephyr, you're flying in with a Quick Attack. Aim for any Pokémon blocking the door or holding the director- he'll be the only one not in one of their silly suits. Once you're done run interference- you can move the fastest. Don't get bogged down in any one battle, keep moving and keep everyone on their toes."

"Aries, I want you using Vine Whip and Leech Seed- trip them up with Vine Whip and trap them with Leech Seed. A trapped enemy is as good as downed one if we can get in and out fast. Crest, you're on defense; Bubble Net is our only good blocking move at the moment. Always try to have a shield up for us. Ion, you're going with me- we'll free the director and you'll defend against anything that gets past the others since you don't have any long range moves yet. Everyone clear?"

They nodded as one but didn't make a sound, turning towards the door ready to go. Dawn took a deep breath. _I hope you're watching Dad._

She threw open the door to the offices and sprinted to the double doors, letting Zephyr and Aries rush ahead. Crest and Ion flanked her, keeping up as best they could on short legs. Aries lowered his head and slammed his horns into the door, throwing them wide open with a tremendous _bang_.

A huge mass of gray, purple and white fur stood in front of the opened doors, hissing and spitting with claws extended. A Purugly, the biggest one Dawn had ever seen. To the right stood a woman in a stylized black and white jumpsuit, her bright red hair making her stand out even against the huge mass of the Purugly. The radio in her hand marked her as the Commander they'd heard. Computers lined the walls of the room, with a couple of floor-to-ceiling machines that looked like an engineer's nightmare lining the back walls. Team Galactic grunts sat at a few of the computer terminals, all with the identical blue-green hair, spacemen outfit and dumbfounded expression. Out of the corner of her eye Dawn could see a trio of three more grunts near the back wall, gathered around a man wearing a white lab coat stained with blood.

"Zephyr, Aries, distract Purugly!" Dawn dashed right, Ion at her heels and Crest just behind them, Bubbles leaking from his beak like water from a faucet. Zephyr and Aries were surging forward to meet the giant normal type head on, but their momentary surprise wasn't enough.

"Faint Attack! Kill the brat!" The red-haired woman shrieked. Purugly leapt forward, body cloaked in darkness. Zephyr used Quick Attack to dodge but Aries took a hard hit, knocking his hooves out from under him and sending him skidding back towards the wall.

Dawn tore her eyes away from the battle, focusing on the grunts surrounding the director. They were slowly getting their bearings, hands moving to the Pokéballs around their waists. She couldn't let that happen. "Ion, Flash!"

Blinding light flared from the tip of Ion's tail, so bright even Dawn's hand in front of her eyes couldn't stop it entirely. Blinking away the spots she saw the grunts all had their hands over their eyes, but a Koffing, Bidoof and Glameow stood ready for battle, blocking their way to the director.

"Ion, Spark on the Glameow! Crest, Bubble the Koffing and Bidoof!" Ion's body surged with electricity and he sprinted forward. Crest turned to face his new foes, Bubbles moving faster as he directed the move towards the poison and normal types.

"Poison Gas them Koffing!"

"Bidoof, Tackle!"

"Glameow, Scratch!"

The Bubbles absorbed the Poison Gas before exploding in Koffing's face; the water type move hurt it more than the absorbed poisons did. Bidoof's Tackle interrupted Crest's follow up, forcing the water type to dance backwards. Ion and Glameow's impromptu wrestling match rolled close to the grunts, making all three back away from the errant sparks and claw swipes. Dawn darted to the side, avoiding the battling Pokémon as she moved towards the director.

The man was slumped against the wall, watching the various battles around the room with a slack jaw and wide eyes when Dawn reached him. She grabbed one arm and yanked him up, catching him when one of his legs gave out. "Come on, we have to get out of here!" she yelled above the clamor.

"Who are you? What's going on?! Have you seen my daughter?!"

"No time, just run!" She dragged him forward, wrapping one of his arms around her neck and keeping Ion and Glameow's battle between them and the grunts.

Crest scored a clean peck on Bidoof, knocking it out, but Koffing swooped down to blast Crest with Poison Gas. Crest breathed it in and began to make the squeaking cry that was his version of a cough. She could see a tint of purple in his face; he'd been poisoned. He wouldn't last long, they had to get out fast!

"Ion, help Crest!" Ion snarled and zapped the Glameow one last time, allowing it to slump to the floor as he raced to help his teammate. Another Flash detonated on his tail, stunning Koffing for a precious moment. Crest stumbled back as Ion leapt forward, dark energy flickering around his teeth as he landed a vicious bite on Koffing. Instead of letting go, Ion threw his whole body to the side, sending Koffing soaring back towards its trainer like a wrecking ball. The round Pokémon crashed into the trio of grunts, sending them all sprawling.

Their momentary distraction with the grunt's Pokémon had cost them. Dawn and the director were halfway to the door when a blast of energy hit the computer terminal in front of them, blowing it up in a blast of heat and noise. Dawn's warding arm was pelted with bits of hot metal and scrap, leaving burning pockmarks where her sleeves didn't protect her. The director backed up quickly, pulling Dawn along with him.

When the dust cleared Dawn saw the red-haired woman facing them, the Purugly at her side. Zephyr and Aries were in the center of the room, still conscious but both heavily injured and breathing hard. Zephyr was missing patches of feathers from both wings and a long cut down his front stained his breast feathers red. Aries' grass was burnt away in spots, a trio of scratches marred his hip and he was limping slightly, left front leg injured somehow. The grunts manning the computer terminals were arrayed behind their Commander. Some rushed about trying to finish whatever they were doing, but most had their hands on their Pokéballs, ready to back the Commander up.

"So this is the brat," the Commander said, her voice lazy and assured. "I thought we'd seen the last of you after you called the police; I was so sure you'd managed to escape somehow. But lucky me, turn out you're more of an idiot than I thought. Did you honestly expect you could take the director and run? Beat Mars, one of Team Galactic's Commanders? Truly, your idiocy is beyond measurement."

"Haven't beaten us yet," Dawn retorted, heartbeat thundering in her ears and sweat beading on her brow despite the brave words. This was their worst-case scenario, the one she'd done her best to avoid. Zephyr and Aries weren't in any condition to fight on. Crest was poisoned; he couldn't battle at full strength and if they didn't get out of here soon, she would have to recall him before the poison did real damage. She would have done so already but they couldn't risk losing their only defensive move in his Bubble Net. That left only Ion as somewhat fresh and he couldn't take on Purugly alone. That left two options: stalling or a distraction.

"Oh? Allow me to correct that statement. Painfully. Let's make a wager, shall we bold brat? You face Purugly. If you beat him, you go free. You can waltz out that door pretty as you please. When you lose… well, you've caused me a lot of trouble today. I'm sure I can come up with many, _many_ ways to make you repay me for all that trouble."

"Deal." She didn't have a choice.

"Purugly, get them. Make it slow and painful." Purugly leapt forward, its huge fangs framing a yowl as vicious as the smile on its trainer's face.

"Dodge!" Aries and Zephyr leapt to the side, Ion running forward to join the battle. Dawn dragged the director back against the wall with the machines, leaving plenty of space for the Pokémon to duke it out.

"Aries, trap it! Zephyr, Wing Attack!" Aries stomped his hoof and vines broke through the tile floor, seeking Purugly's wide feet. Purugly tore through them effortlessly, rushing forward to slam into Aries. Aries was tough, the largest of her Pokémon, but even his bulk didn't help as he was thrown off his feet and into the nearest computer terminal. Sparks flew and Aries collapsed, unable to go on. Dawn recalled him a moment later, whispering thanks and congratulations to the Pokéball as she replaced it on her belt, eyes still fixed on the battle.

Zephyr flew at Purugly, wings glowing with power as they slammed into Purugly. The attack made it snarl but had little other effect. Zephyr had to back up as fast to avoid the retaliatory slash of Purugly's claws, losing a few more feathers when he wasn't quite fast enough.

Ion ran to save his teammate, his body glowing with the electrical power of Spark. Purugly turned to meet his charge, a swirling mass of shadows appearing in front of its open maw. Shadow Ball, and a huge one at that; even as Ion approached it grew to be bigger than Purugly's head. If that hit the battle would be all but over.

"Crest, now! Ion, to the side!" Crest hadn't been sitting idle while the others closed in. A whispered word from Dawn at the beginning of the battle had him hanging back, but now he rushed forward to join the team, Mist spilling from his beak like water from an open dam. The Mist flowed forward to cover the middle of the room; in the span of a blink Dawn couldn't see anything but swirls of moving mist in the cloud. She heard a huge _BOOM_ echo from the other side of the room, the impact of the Shadow Ball making the whole room shake for a moment, drowning out the shouts of the grunts.

Zephyr's screeching cries and Purugly's snarls dominated Dawn's hearing; once she heard Ion's distinctive electric zap as he landed a hit. The Mist didn't die away so she had to assume Crest was still in there, pumping it out. She needed to see him, needed to make sure he was okay, that the poison wasn't overwhelming him. She needed to see, to help all of them! What had she been thinking? The feeling of helplessness crawled up her throat as she strained to make out any details from the sounds of battle.

The Mist burst apart, Zephyr's Whirlwind pushing it away in a tornado of white. She saw the reason for the move the second it was gone. Her heart jumped into her throat. "Ion!"

Ion was trapped beneath one of Purugly's huge paws, trying in vain to summon enough electricity to zap the bigger Pokémon off himself. Zephyr was on the ground nearby, struggling to his feet and throwing Whirlwinds at Purugly in a fruitless attempt to throw the normal type off his smaller teammate. Crest was unmoving in a heap on the floor, bruises marring his body and feathers all out of place. Purugly looked triumphant, fangs bared and claws scratching gouges into the tile floor, unmoved by the winds Zephyr sent blasting into it.

Mars' eyes moved from the battle to fixate on Dawn's face, her mouth turned up into a slight, close-lipped smile and eyebrows raised. "I told you little girl, you don't stand a chance. You never did. Now, you face the consequences. Purugly, get rid of her."

Dawn was frozen, unable to take her eyes off of Ion, whose struggles were growing slower, less frequent. The sparks on his body were dying even as the light in his eyes faded. He was suffocating. Crest was unmoving, overcome by poison. Aries was unconscious, new to the team but still having given his all for them, for her. Even brave Zephyr, who would never give up, never surrender, couldn't find his feet, could only throw weak gusts of wind at his opponent. She had failed them even as they gave their all for her, as she could see the consequences of her failure in the ball of shining light growing in front of Purugly as it charged a Hyper Beam.

It would all be over soon. Dawn closed her eyes, waiting for the inevitable.

Light burned through her eyelids. An explosion to her left rattled the wall behind her, causing shrapnel to pelt her left side. The deafening sound of the explosion unable to overwhelm the familiar sound of bubbles popping. A pair of high-pitched shrieks, so loud and furious she imagined it could shake the earth. Nothing hit, tore through her in a flash of burning heat and power. Against the call to hide, to run, to fall, to wait for the inevitable, Dawn opened her eyes.

A wall of Bubbles had appeared between her and Purugly, so thick she could barely see through it, all the bubbles glowing a deep blue. And on the other side of the wall, Purugly had been thrown back three feet from where it stood before, a small form interposed between the wall of Bubbles and their opponents.

Her starter stood tall and proud, body bruised and battered, some feathers tinged purple by the poison in his veins, but he stood, immovable as a mountain. He rocked his head back and from his open beak burst a stream of fast-moving Bubbles, moving in a straight line heading right for Purugly.

Purugly was still struggling to its feet, the bulk that normally protected it from attacks hindering its ability to stand quickly. The Bubblebeam hit it square in the face, sending it skidding back on the smooth tile floor. Purugly yowled in pain, the hit allowing it to roll onto its feet. It began charging another huge Shadow Ball, but Crest wasn't going to allow it the luxury of time. He charged.

Dawn's heart was racing and shaky laugher burst from her lips as she saw Crest land a powerful Peck on Purugly's flank, dancing around its retaliatory Slash. Looking past the thinning cloud of Bubbles she saw Ion's unconscious form lying where Purugly had left him. She recalled him in a flash of light and looked around for Zephyr, who was nowhere to be seen. Where could he have gone?

Purugly might have taken some hard hits, but it was slowly regaining the upper hand. Crest was faster now that Purugly was wounded, but his hits weren't doing enough damage and the poison would wear him down. Before too long Purugly caught him, landing a vicious Bite to one wing when the Piplup tried to use Pound. His wail of pain made Dawn step forward unconsciously, hands clenching into fists, but she couldn't do anything. What could she do against such a monster, except cower in fear?

What she'd always done. Trust in her Pokémon. "Zephyr, now!" She didn't know where he was, what he was doing, but if she knew him even a little, Zephyr was planning to win this battle somehow.

Her trust was rewarded. A dozen Staravia, each glowing with a blinding white aura, dove down from the high ceiling where the remnants of Crest's Mist had gathered. They shrieked a battle cry in tandem and dove, heading straight for Purugly.

Purugly let go of Crest and yowled its own battle cry, a mass of orange light gathering in front of it. With only a moment to spare it shot, the Hyper Beam carving through each of the clones in turn. Debris rained down from the ceiling where the beam passed. Two of the final clones were blow to nothingness as they made the final approach, but one doppelgänger tucked one wing close in a beautiful dodge, spiraling around the beam and slamming into Purugly with all the force a Take Down enhanced by Zephyr's Reckless could impart. Crest, not about to be shown up, shot a Bubblebeam into Purugly's side at the same moment.

It was too much for the normal type. Thrown across the room, burnt, battered, soaking wet and exhausted, it finally collapsed into a heap at its trainer's feet. Mars' eyes were wide, mouth hanging open as she tried to comprehend what had just happened. Crest and Zephyr stood together in the center of the ruined room, ignoring the wounds on their worn bodies as they shrieked their victory for all to hear. Dawn shouted congratulations, voice nearly breaking and smile bright as the sun, the unshed tears in her eyes making everything just a little bit blurry.

Mars went from shock to rage in a second, face reddening and fingers clenching into fists. "This can't be! You uppity brat!" Mars withdrew another Pokéball from her belt, face flushed red and teeth bared in a snarl. "You'll regret the day you were born you-"

"Freeze!" An avalanche of stomping feet interrupted her tirade. The double doors flung open wide once again and a flood of people in blue police uniforms rushed through the doors, all holding Pokéballs and stun batons. Growlithe and Roselia ran at their feet, fresh and ready for battle.

An Officer Jenny stomped up to the front, blue hair spilling out from beneath her police cap, stun baton crackling fiercely. An Arcanine shouldered through the crowd to stand by her side, dwarfing her with its bulk. "Surrender now, we've got the building surrounded, several of your people have already been taken into custody, you're outnumbered, and we have dark types ready to stop any attempt at teleportation. It's over."

Mars was incoherent, dark mutterings spilling out of her mouth and hand trembling as it clutched the Pokéball. Her head was lowered so no one could see her eyes. The Grunts had backed up against the damaged wall, all watching their leader nervously. The police still stood firm, their Pokémon shifting on their feet, eyes darting between the downed Purugly, Mars and where Zephyr and Crest still stood, too injured or tired to move.

After a long moment Mars threw back her head and laughed. "I can't believe it! You _actually _think you have us caught? What a bunch of idiots! We've accomplished our goals; we drained this place dry and got all the energy we need. Team Galactic will accomplish our goals, and _nothing_ will get in our way. I will personally see to it!" She leveled a dark glare at Dawn where she stood against the back wall with the director. "You hear that brat? I'll be back for you!" She turned to face the police again. "Now, if you'll excuse us, we must be going."

"Not on my watch!" Officer Jenny brandished her baton, taking a step forward. The moment she did, pandemonium broke out at the back of the officer's ranks. Two officers standing in the middle of the police ranks pulled out Pokéballs and released the Pokémon inside, a Croagunk and a Magneton. The Pokémon immediately attacked all those close to them, knocking out the Mightyena that was the only Dark type Dawn could see before moving on to the Growlithe and Roserade. The turncoat officers themselves leapt at their fellows, stunning as many as they could reach with harsh thwacks of their batons. The room turned into a chaotic battlefield in a matter of seconds.

Mars took full advantage of the distraction, recalling Purugly and releasing the Pokémon in her other Pokéball before Arcanine lunged at her. A flash of light made Dawn throw an arm in front of her eyes. When she lowered the guarding arm, blinking to clear the spots from her vision, Officer Jenny and Arcanine stood where Mars had been only a second before, Officer Jenny swearing like a sailor. It wasn't hard to see why; the whole corner had been cleared of Team Galactic. Where the two turncoat officers and their Pokémon had been fighting was now just a horde of confused officers and Pokémon.

Team Galactic was gone, escaped. It was finally over.

#

The conference room was empty and dull, just a table and a few worn chairs pushed in under it. Dawn's head rested on her crossed arms, leaning on the table as she tried not to fall asleep. She felt empty, worn, devoid of any emotions other than exhaustion and worry. Her belt felt empty, too light without her Pokéballs, taken to Nurse Joy over two hours ago. She'd told her story multiple times to multiple officers. She'd watched the director reunite with his daughter and be taken away for medical treatment. She didn't know what else they could want from her but didn't have the energy to get up and ask. All she could do was hope they would hurry it up so she could check on her friends and get some sleep.

She was almost asleep when the door opened. The creak of worn hinges made her shoot upright, turning to face whoever had come it. The man was tall, with ruffled black hair in need of a comb, a long, worn face, tired black eyes and a large brown coat with many pockets that hung to his knees. He carried a notebook under one arm, had a pen stuck behind his ear and held a massive container of coffee, judging by the smell. He took a long drink from his mug before settling down in the chair across from Dawn.

"Thank you for waiting. As I imagine you're aware, this incident has led to quite a bit of work needing to get done and there aren't nearly enough people to do it." The man spoke with a slight accent; he wasn't from Sinnoh, but Dawn couldn't place it. He didn't look like a police officer either. A detective of some sort? Someone brought in to figure out what Team Galactic wanted?

"Call me Looker. I'm an agent with the International Police. I've been looking into this 'Team Galactic' for the past few months, but this is the first major incident we've seen from them. Frankly, we thought they were small potatoes until now, a group doing nothing more than some small Pokémon theft and trafficking." Well the answered her question, and several more besides.

"A while back in Jubilife City, they tried to attack Professor Rowan and a friend of mine."

Looker leaned forward at that, right hand snatching the pen from behind his ear and beginning to scribble on his notepad. "We never had any report of the kind. Please, describe the incident for me as best you can."

Dawn did so, describing how the two grunts had attacked Professor Rowan and Lucas in the alley, as well as what they'd been after.

Looker let out a long sigh when she finished her tale. "Professor Rowan should have known better than to leave it unreported. If it was just petty theft, I would understand, but research material? That means he was targeted, and a professor's research notes are a valuable target. He should have reported it right away." He scribbled another note on his pad, flipping pages before looking up and fixing her with a no-nonsense stare. "Now, on to the Windworks. Why did you go after the director? Why didn't you stay hidden? You might have avoided them until we came if you stayed with the director's daughter."

"I couldn't just stay there and let them keep hurting the director!" Dawn's fervor was muted by the exhaustion but not extinguished. "I came into the building because I heard someone scream; when his daughter told me about the takeover, I finally had a direction to go to help!" _The little girl's tearstained face. A man at the door of their house, a belt clutched in one hand. Her mother, crying late into the night. _"And no little girl should have to live without her father in her life because of some greedy idiots."

Looker studied her for a moment, dark eyes taking in every aspect of her. Dawn felt a little bit like she was being judged. After a moment of silence, he smiled, a genuine smile that reached his eyes, not the polite ones she'd been getting from the police officers for the past two hours. "You're young, still growing, but you're a Trainer through and through. You should be proud to have that instinct. Still, I have to advise you to be more cautious; you might not have come out of that encounter so well if we hadn't come when we did."

"I tried my best to be careful, but a man's life was on the line. I won't apologize for taking risks in that scenario." Dawn stared him down, trying not to betray the guilt simmering beneath the surface. It was hypocritical to say such a thing when she was sitting here with only a few minor scratches while her Pokémon were badly hurt. She would have to do better; be more prepared, make a better plan, become so much stronger, both her and her Pokémon. She could do better, so she _would_ do better.

"I understand, but try to be more cautious. Team Galactic is more formidable than we anticipated; that Commander appeared to have Pokémon on par with a Gym Leader's true team. So heed my advice: steer clear of them in the future." He asked her some more questions, digging into everything she had heard them say and all the names she could remember.

After a final, intense round of questions on everything from their uniforms to the Pokémon they used, Looker stood up, gathering his scattered notes, sticking the pen behind his ear and taking another long sip from his coffee. Dawn stood up as well, ready to go. Before she could get to the door, Looker caught her shoulder with a free hand.

"Wait." He juggled his papers and coffee for a moment, scribbling a number down on a scrap of paper and pushing it into her hand. "My number, set to reach me wherever I am," he explained at her questioning look. "If you remember anything else important to the case or run across Team Galactic again, give me a call. If you need help, don't be afraid to call too." A large hand landed on her shoulder. "No one here will admit it, but you've done us a great service today by revealing Team Galactic and the threat they pose. Be proud Dawn; you saved lives today. The International Police and the Lily of the Valley League are grateful, and don't forget it."

Dawn found that that sentence, small as it might have been, let her shoulders become a little less hunched, her back a little straighter, her chin rise. She had saved lives; that was all she needed to know their toil had been worth it.

#

"How are my Pokémon?"

Nurse Joy sighed, a hand rising to rub at her tired eyes. "They're getting better, but it will take a few days before they're fully recovered. Skiddo is mostly fine, just banged up and bruised. Skiddo are sturdy and better built to hard hits, so he should heal up the fastest, just a few more hours. Your Shinx has some rather deep cuts and a broken rib; he'll need at least a full day here in the Center to heal and he shouldn't train or battle for at least two more days after that."

"Your Staravia has similar injuries. He's missing some primary feathers and his wings are badly bruised; he shouldn't fly for three days. One of his talons was torn, he's got a deep cut on his chest and his entire body is covered with bruises, probably due to the effects of using Take Down in combination with his ability. To be honest I'm surprised it wasn't worse; most members of the Starly line with Reckless end up hurting themselves badly when they use a recoil move for the first time. But they're a hardy species, so I'm of the opinion he'll heal fine. He should be ready to go again by the time Shinx finishes healing, but only light training and no battling for three days after."

Nurse Joy fixed Dawn with a hard stare. "I'm most worried about your Piplup, even though he had the fewest immediate injuries. He was badly poisoned and left untreated for far too long, as well as forced to fight with the poison in his system. I've examined him thoroughly and haven't found anything other than exhaustion, a few bruises, some cuts and the poison, which I treated immediately. I want to keep him here for three days, same as the others except for Skiddo, so that I can monitor him in case something comes up that I missed. Poison left untreated for so long can have unexpected side effects."

"I understand. Can I see him, them?"

"For a few minutes. It should help them stress less, especially if they all see you at the same time. Is that all right?"

"Perfect." Dawn watched Nurse Joy walk back through the double doors leading to the hospital section of the Pokémon Center, one hand pulling at her hair incessantly while the other fiddled with the straps of her backpack. She had to see them, had to apologize, had to make sure they were okay with her own eyes. Her gaze bounced around the room, never settling on one thing for very long before snapping back to look at the double doors ahead.

It felt like an eternity before Nurse Joy came back, opening one door and gesturing for Dawn to follow her. She followed the nurse through large rooms with tables and medical equipment into a blank white hall that reminded her far too much of the Valley Windworks. Nurse Joy stopped at an unremarkable door and pushed it open, gesturing for Dawn to go inside.

Inside were her Pokémon, huddled together as she'd never seen before. There was Aries, lying on the floor with his hooves tucked under him, deep in conversation with the Piplup standing beside him. Zephyr perched on his back, talons kneading the thick layer of grass on Aries' back, shuffling around every few seconds, the bare patches on his wings all too visible. Ion was lying right in front of Aries, ears twitching and tail swaying back and forth as he monitored Crest and Aries' conversation.

All movement stilled when they turned to look at the open door. Dawn couldn't control her body and she shot forward, sliding on her knees to be at their level as she got close. Only a moment from grabbing them all in her arms, she hesitated, looking at the wounds, the stitches, the bruises still plain to see behind Crest's feathers and Ion's fur, at how Aries seemed reluctant to move.

Before she could go for the hug Crest did it for her. A pair of small blue wings wrapped around her and the comforting feeling of his slick feathers against her skin embraced her. Ion's head rubbed against her side, a deep purring sound emanating from his chest. Aries leaned his head against her legs and Zephyr hopped off his grassy perch to shuffle around to her back and lean his body into hers. They stood like that for a while, enjoying the physical support and comfort without the need for words or movement. Dawn didn't even notice the sound of Nurse Joy closing the door.

An eternity contained in a moment passed before Dawn spoke. "Thank you. You were all amazing, more that I could ever ask for or expect from you. You held them off long enough for help to come against insurmountable odds. You saved my life and the lives of others. _Thank you._"

She lifted her head to look into Crest's deep blue eyes, which held less pride and more love than they had even this morning. "You all saved me. I will never be able to repay you, but I'll keep trying for the rest of my life." She turned to look at all her Pokémon in turn, locking eyes with each for a moment before moving on. "We're going to get stronger, smarter, faster, until no one can challenge us. Until we can crush those who stand in our way, who hurt others just because they can. We're going to be the strongest, the protectors of Sinnoh, and we'll crush Team Galactic wherever they show their ugly faces!"

A combined battle cry echoed off the stark white walls as her Pokémon roared their conviction for all to hear. Dawn snuggled in closer, enjoying the warmth and love for as long as she could. Soon they would have to rise, to train, to battle, to travel and grow as much as they could. But for now, in the wake of a battle that had nearly knocked them down for good, they could just rest.

**#**

**I live! Sorry for the long wait, as it turns out pandemics and graduation are not great for my writing schedule. When I realized the one-year mark for this fic was coming up I pushed to make sure I could get this chapter out in celebration. Thank you all for coming so far with me, I'm excited to show you what happens next! **

**I'm starting a new job in September and the next chapter is shaping up to be longer than usual so it might be a while before the next chapter comes out, but I promise it won't be such a long wait this time! Thanks for reading, see you next time!**


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